The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee was held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the nine U.S. representatives from the state of Tennessee, one from each of the state's nine congressional districts. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election and an election to the U.S. Senate. Primary elections were held on August 2, 2012.
These elections were the first under Tennessee's new congressional map after redistricting was completed by the state government. Following the 2012 elections, no seats changed hands, leaving the Tennessee delegation at a 7-2 Republican majority.
Redistricting Following the 2010 United States census, the Tennessee General Assembly, now controlled by the Republican Party for the first time since Reconstruction, and Republican Governor Bill Haslam enacted new congressional district boundaries in early 2012. The legislature passed the congressional redistricting plan on January 13, 2012, and it was signed into law on January 26, 2012.
Under the 2012 plan, Republicans solidified their electoral advantage by shaping districts to concentrate Democratic voters into just two districts, effectively preserving a 7–2 Republican majority in the U.S. House delegation. Observers noted that the new map cemented GOP dominance and made several Republican seats safer by altering district boundaries to favor Republican performance.
Overview United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee, 2012The Tennessee Secretary of State and the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives reported the same vote totals. This table includes the write-in votes.PartyVotesPercentageSeats BeforeSeats After+/– Republican 1,369,562 59.97% 7 7 Democratic 796,513 34.88% 2 2 Independent/Green 117,098 5.13% 0 0 0Write-in5540.02% 0 0 0 Totals 2,283,727 100.00% 9 9 —
By district District Incumbent Party Firstelected Result Candidates 2008 Incumbent re-elected. 1988 Incumbent re-elected. 2010 Incumbent re-elected. 2010 Incumbent re-elected. 19821994 2002 Incumbent re-elected. 2010 Incumbent re-elected. 2002 Incumbent re-elected. 2010 Incumbent re-elected. 2006 Incumbent re-elected.
District 1
The redrawn 1st district will represent Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Sevier, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington counties, and parts of Jefferson County. The most populous city in the district is Johnson City, and the district will continue to be anchored by the Tri-Cities area. Republican Phil Roe, who had represented the 1st district since 2009, ran for re-election.
Republican primary Candidates Nominee Phil Roe, incumbent U.S. Representative
Primary results
Democratic primary Candidates Nominee Alan Woodruff, attorney
Primary results
General election Endorsements
Predictions SourceRankingAs of The Cook Political Report November 5, 2012 Rothenberg November 2, 2012 Roll Call, November 4, 2012 Sabato's Crystal BallCrystal Ball , November 5, 2012 NY TimesHouse Race Ratings, The New York Times, November 4, 2012RCP, November 4, 2012The Hill November 4, 2012
Results
District 2
The redrawn 2nd district will represent Blount, Claiborne, Grainger, Knox, and Loudon counties, and parts of Campbell and Jefferson counties. The most populous city in the district is Knoxville; as before, the district is largely coextensive with that city's metropolitan area. Republican Jimmy Duncan who had represented the 2nd district since 1988 ran for re-election.
Republican primary Candidates Nominee Jimmy Duncan, incumbent U.S. Representative
Eliminated in primary Nick Ciparro, musician and full-time student Joseph Leinweber Jr., U.S. Air Force
Primary results
Democratic primary Candidates Nominee Troy Goodale, professor of Political Science at Tusculum College
Primary results
General election Predictions SourceRankingAs of The Cook Political Report November 5, 2012 Rothenberg November 2, 2012 Roll Call November 4, 2012 Sabato's Crystal Ball November 5, 2012 NY Times November 4, 2012RCP November 4, 2012The Hill November 4, 2012
Results
District 3
The redrawn 3rd district will represent Anderson, Hamilton, McMinn, Monroe, Morgan, Polk, Roane, Scott, and Union counties, and parts of Bradley and Campbell counties. The most populous city in the district is Chattanooga. Republican Chuck Fleischmann, who had represented the 3rd district since January 2011, ran for re-election.
Republican primary Candidates Nominee Chuck Fleischmann, incumbent U.S. Representative
Eliminated in primary Ron Bhalla, businessman Scottie Mayfield, president of Mayfield Dairy Weston Wamp, founder of a public relations firm and son of former U.S. Representative Zach Wamp
Withdrawn Jean Howard-Hill, former professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and candidate for this seat in 2008 and 2010
Declined J.B. Bennett, attorney Savas Kyriakidis, businessman, Command Judge in the U.S. Army and independent candidate for this seat in 2010 Robin Smith, health care consultant and former chair of the Tennessee Republican Party and candidate for this seat in 2010 Tres Wittum, a policy and research analyst for state senator Bo Watson
Primary results
Democratic primary Candidates Nominee Mary Headrick, emergency room and acute care physician
Eliminated in primary Bill Taylor, businessman,
Declined Brenda Freeman Short, candidate for this seat in 2010
Primary results
Independents Candidates Matthew Deniston, Army Veteran and former Ranger
Withdrawn Topher Kersting, web designer
Declined Savas Kyriakidis, businessman, Command Judge in the U.S. Army and independent candidate for this seat in 2010
General election Endorsements
Predictions SourceRankingAs of The Cook Political Report November 5, 2012 Rothenberg November 2, 2012 Roll Call November 4, 2012 Sabato's Crystal Ball November 5, 2012 NY Times November 4, 2012RCP November 4, 2012The Hill November 4, 2012
Results
District 4
The redrawn 4th district represented Bedford, Bledsoe, Franklin, Grundy, Lincoln, Marion, Marshall, Meigs, Moore, Rhea, Rutherford, Sequatchie, and Warren counties, and parts of Bradley, Maury, and Van Buren counties. The most populous city in the district was Murfreesboro, which had previously anchored the 6th District.
Republican Scott DesJarlais who had represented the 4th district since January 2011. He ran for re-election and won.
Republican primary State senator Bill Ketron, a Murfreesboro resident, had been rumored to be considering a run for the 4th; he was chairman of the redistricting committee and reportedly drew Murfreesboro into the district to facilitate a run. However, on January 22, 2012, he announced he would not run.
Candidates Nominee Scott DesJarlais, incumbent U.S. Representative
Eliminated in primary Shannon Kelley, pilot
Declined Bill Ketron, state senator Jim Tracy, state senator
Primary results DesJarlais won the Republican Party primary on August 2, 2012.Project Vote Smart
Democratic primary State senator Eric Stewart announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination to challenge DesJarlais in late 2011. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made his candidacy their top priority in the South in early 2012. Stewart won the Democratic party endorsement.
Candidates Nominee Eric Stewart, state senator
Primary results
General election Campaign The general election was characterized by a series of controversies involving the incumbent. Stewart agreed to three debates, but DesJarlais told the media that he would not participate. The incumbent was "open to revisiting the question later in the campaign", accusing Stewart of "lack of clarity on the issues" as a reason to avoid debating him. Stewart responded that DesJarlais was avoiding the voters. The local media were critical of the congressman's stance on the debate issue: the Chattanoogan asked, "Why Won't Desjarlais Debate?" and the Times Free Press called it "No good reason to avoid debates".
In October 2012, DesJarlais silenced two Democratic representatives on the floor of Congress. DesJarlais was Speaker of the House pro tempore, in a pro forma session to prevent "President Barack Obama from making recess appointments without congressional consent". Stewart accused DesJarlais of neglecting the district's farmers by not passing the Farm Bill.
The media reported in mid-October 2012 on DesJarlais divorce of his first wife, Susan, from 2001. During their divorce proceedings, Susan DesJarlais alleged that her ex-husband engaged in "violent and threatening behavior". Court filings revealed that he had an affair with a female patient, and pressured her to have an abortion after she became pregnant. In response to the news, Stewart called him a "pro-life hypocrite", contending that "DesJarlais can't be trusted". The DesJarlais campaign did not challenge the truth of the allegations, but replied that "This is old news...." Stewart parried in a news conference that:
After all that, DesJarlais "lashed out at Stewart", stating "there was no pregnancy, and no abortion", blaming his opponents and ex-wife for "dredging up details from his past".
After the primary elections, the race had been rated "Likely GOP" by RealClearPolitics. By July 13 FEC filings, DesJarlais had raised twice as much as Stewart, and had "$591,976 in the bank to Stewart's $152,712". Stewart's aim was to "blanket" the local airways with ads attacking his opponent's vote in favor of Paul Ryan's budget, while the incumbent would tie him to President Barack Obama, who is unpopular in the district. As of October 7, The Tennessean noted that comparing "money and recent history, DesJarlais has the advantage", due to incumbency, raising twice the funds as Stewart, and the GOP tilt of the district; however, "DesJarlais' edge is not as large as the ones held by his Republican peers in Tennessee, ... DesJarlais entered the election with low name recognition, and he cannot count on the wave of conservative voters that swept Republican candidates into Congress two years ago." Both candidates were running as "outsiders".
As of October 12, the Romney/Ryan campaign had removed DesJarlais's endorsement from their website as reported by the Associated Press. Local political analyst Pat Nolan said that, as of October 10, this probably would be in the news for only a few days, "but it may take longer than that for it to really sink in and for people to understand it". When it breaks and how much money they have to get their messages across are "key" for them. By October 14, it had become the "State's most contentious U.S. House battle [that] has everyone talking". As of October 13, analysts stated that Stewart still had an uphill battle finding enough voters to back him.
On the eve of the election, November 5, the Associated Press called for Tennessee's 11 electoral votes to go to "Romney with ease." It also predicted an easy re-election for Senator Bob Corker. However, it noted "Tougher times for GOP Rep. Scott DesJarlais after revelations he once discussed abortion with mistress."
Endorsements
Polling Pollsource Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin oferror ScottDesJarlais (R) EricStewart (D) UndecidedPublic Opinion Strategies (R-DesJarlais)Public Opinion Strategies (R-DesJarlais) October 22–23, 2012 400 ± 4.9% 49% 36% 15%Myers Research/Strategic Services (D-Stewart)Myers Research/Strategic Services (D-Stewart) October 14–15, 2012 400 ± 4.9% 49% 44% 7%
Predictions SourceRankingAs of The Cook Political Report November 5, 2012 Rothenberg November 2, 2012 Roll Call November 4, 2012 Sabato's Crystal Ball November 5, 2012 NY Times November 4, 2012RCP November 4, 2012The Hill November 4, 2012
Results DesJarlais won the election.
Aftermath