# 2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee

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The 2012 United States Senate election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the general election including the 2012 U.S. presidential election, elections to the House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Bob Corker won a second term in a landslide, carrying all but two counties in the state.
Corker narrowly flipped reliably Democratic Davidson County, home to Nashville, which had not voted Republican on the presidential level since 1988. He faced Democratic nominee Mark E. Clayton as well as several third-party candidates and several independents in this election.
Corker easily won the Republican primary with 85% of the vote, and anti-LGBT activist and conspiracy theorist Clayton won the Democratic nomination with 30% of the vote, despite raising no money and having a website that was four years out of date.
The next day Tennessee's Democratic Party disavowed Clayton over his active role in the Public Advocate of the United States, which they described as a "known hate group". They blamed his victory among candidates for whom the TNDP provided little forums to become known on the fact that his name appeared first on the ballot, and said they would do nothing to help his campaign, urging Democrats to vote for "the write-in candidate of their choice" in November. One of the Democratic candidates, Larry Crim, filed a petition seeking to offer the voters a new primary in which to select a Democratic nominee among the remaining candidates the party had affirmed as bona fide and as a preliminary motion sought a temporary restraining order against certification of the results, but after a judge denied the temporary order Crim withdrew his petition.

## Background

The incumbent in the race, former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker, was elected in 2006 with 50.7% of the vote in a win against U.S. representative Harold Ford, Jr.

## Republican primary
### Candidates
#### Declared

* Fred R. Anderson
* Mark Twain Clemens, unemployed
* Bob Corker, incumbent U.S. Senator
* James Durkan, businessman
* Brenda Lenard, businesswoman & doctoral student
* Zach Poskevich, technology consultant

#### Publicly Speculated, but Declined

* Hank Williams, Jr., country music entertainer

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bob Corker | More conservative challenger | Other | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | February 9–13, 2011 | 400 | ±4.9% | 38% | 43% | — | 19% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bob Corker | Marsha Blackburn | Other | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | February 9–13, 2011 | 400 | ±4.9% | 50% | 30% | — | 20% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bob Corker | Hank Williams, Jr. | Other | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | February 9–13, 2011 | 400 | ±4.9% | 66% | 13% | — | 21% |

### Results

Tennessee Republican primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Bob Corker (Incumbent) | 389,483 | 85.25% |
| | Republican | Zach Poskevich | 28,299 | 6.19% |
| | Republican | Fred Anderson | 15,942 | 3.49% |
| | Republican | Mark Twain Clemens | 11,788 | 2.58% |
| | Republican | Brenda Lenard | 11,378 | 2.49% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 456,890 | 100.00% |

## Democratic primary
### Candidates
#### Declared

* Mark E. Clayton, Vice President of the nonprofit organization Public Advocate of the United States and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008
* Larry Crim, nonprofit executive
* Gary Gene Davis
* Dave Hancock
* Park Overall, actress
* Thomas K. Owens
* Benjamin Roberts

### Results

Democratic primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Mark E. Clayton | 48,126 | 29.99% |
| | Democratic | Gary Gene Davis | 24,789 | 15.45% |
| | Democratic | Park Overall | 24,263 | 15.12% |
| | Democratic | Larry Crim | 17,383 | 10.83% |
| | Democratic | Benjamin Roberts | 16,369 | 10.20% |
| | Democratic | David Hancock | 16,167 | 10.08 |
| | Democratic | Thomas Owens | 13,366 | 8.33 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 160,463 | 100.00 |

## General election
### Candidates

* Bob Corker (Republican), incumbent U.S. Senator
* Mark E. Clayton (Democratic)
* Shaun Crowell (Libertarian)
* Martin Pleasant (Green)
* Kermit Steck (Constitution)
* David Gatchell (independent)
* James Higdon (independent)
* Michel Joseph Long (independent)
* Troy Stephen Scoggin (independent)
* Jacob Maurer (Write-In)

### Predictions

| Source | Ranking | As of |
| The Cook Political Report | Solid R | November 1, 2012 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe R | November 5, 2012 |
| Rothenberg Political Report | Safe R | November 2, 2012 |
| Real Clear Politics | Safe R | November 5, 2012 |

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bob Corker (R) | Mark Clayton (D) | Other | Undecided |
| Issues and Answers Network Inc. | October 16–21, 2011 | 609 | ±4% | 59% | 21% | 4% | 15% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bob Corker (R) | Phil Bredesen (D) | Other | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 41% | 46% | — | 12% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bob Corker (R) | Jim Cooper (D) | Other | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 50% | 32% | — | 22% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bob Corker (R) | Harold Ford, Jr. (D) | Other | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 55% | 32% | — | 14% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bob Corker (R) | Bart Gordon (D) | Other | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 52% | 29% | — | 19% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bob Corker (R) | Al Gore (D) | Other | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 53% | 38% | — | 9% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bob Corker (R) | Tim McGraw (D) | Other | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | February 9–13, 2011 | 500 | ±4.4% | 50% | 28% | — | 22% |

### Results

Despite the TN Democratic Party encouraging write-in voting, the general election only saw 0.05% cast write-in votes. Clayton significantly underperformed compared to Barack Obama, running for re-election to the presidency on the same day. Clayton got about 9% and 254,827 votes fewer than Obama.
United States Senate election in Tennessee, 2012 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Republican | Bob Corker (incumbent) | 1,506,443 | 64.89% | +14.18% |
| | Democratic | Mark Clayton | 705,882 | 30.41% | −17.59% |
| | Green | Martin Pleasant | 38,472 | 1.66% | +1.52% |
| | Independent | Shaun Crowell | 20,936 | 0.90% | N/A |
| | Constitution | Kermit Steck | 18,620 | 0.80% | N/A |
| | Independent | James Higdon | 8,085 | 0.35% | N/A |
| | Independent | Michael Joseph Long | 8,080 | 0.35% | N/A |
| | Independent | Troy Stephen Scoggin | 7,148 | 0.31% | N/A |
| | Independent | David Gatchell | 6,523 | 0.28% | N/A |
| | n/a | Write-ins | 1,288 | 0.05% | N/A |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 2,321,477 | 100.00% | N/A |
| | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold |

#### Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

* Cannon (Largest city: Woodbury)
* Crockett (Largest city: Bells)
* DeKalb (Largest city: Smithville)
* Dickson (Largest city: Dickson)
* Franklin (Largest city: Winchester)
* Giles (Largest city: Pulaski)
* Henry (Largest city: Paris)
* Hickman (Largest city: Centerville)
* Lewis (Largest city: Hohenwald)
* Marion (Largest city: Jasper)
* Marshall (Largest city: Lewisburg)
* Warren (Largest city: McMinnville)
* White (Largest city: Sparta)
* Benton (largest municipality: Camden)
* Clay (largest municipality: Celina)
* Grundy (largest municipality: Altamont)
* Humphreys (largest municipality: Waverly)
* Lake (largest municipality: Tiptonville)
* Lauderdale (largest municipality: Ripley)
* Overton (largest municipality: Livingston)
* Perry (largest municipality: Linden)
* Smith (largest municipality: Carthage)
* Stewart (largest municipality: Dover)
* Trousdale (largest municipality: Hartsville)
* Van Buren (largest municipality: Spencer)
* Houston (largest city: Erin)
* Jackson (largest town: Gainesboro)
* Hardeman (largest city: Bolivar)
* Macon (Largest city: Lafayette)
* Montgomery (Largest city: Clarksville)
* Sequatchie (Largest city: Dunlap)
* Davidson (largest city: Nashville)

#### By congressional district

Corker carried 8 of the 9 congressional districts, including one that elected a Democrat.
| District | Corker | Clayton | Representative |
| 1st | 76.58% | 19.24% |
| 1st | 76.58% | 19.24% | Phil Roe |
| 2nd | 72.75% | 21.24% | John J. Duncan, Jr. |
| 3rd | 70.60% | 25.60% | Chuck Fleischmann |
| 4th | 69.30% | 26.31% | Scott DesJarlais |
| 5th | 50.21% | 43.32% | Jim Cooper |
| 6th | 73.32% | 22.04% | Diane Black |
| 7th | 69.62% | 25.75% | Marsha Blackburn |
| 8th | 70.26% | 26.40% | Stephen Fincher |
| 9th | 28.56% | 67.00% | Steve Cohen |