# 1988 United States Senate election in Tennessee

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vte :
The 1988 United States election in Tennessee was held on November 8, 1988. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jim Sasser won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican nominee Bill Andersen with 65.1% of the vote.
As of 2025, this was the last time the Democrats won the Class 1 Senate seat from Tennessee.

## Major candidates
### Democratic

* Jim Sasser, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1977

### Republican

* Bill Andersen, attorney

## Campaign

Sasser raised $1.5 million in 1987 to ward off significant opposition according to his aide Doug Hall. Andersen started raising funds for a congressional campaign in 1985, under the belief that U.S. Representative Jimmy Quillen would retire, but Quillen sought reelection. Andersen instead switched to a senatorial campaign.
Sasser declined to acknowledge Andersen's attacks during the campaign and instead focused on his congressional work while his staff responded to the attacks. Andersen called for six televised debates, but Sasser rejected the demand and only accepted one debate in Nashville.
After the election Andersen stated that polling conducted by his campaign reported that "one out of three Tennesseans had not yet identified who I was and what my message means".
Sasser won every county in the state except for two. He received 58% of the vote in the eastern region of the state which is usually Republican, 68% in the middle, and 71% in the west.

## Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Bill Anderson Republican | Jim Sasser Democratic | Other / Undecided |
| Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy | Early October | | | 27% | 62% | 11% |
| Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy | October 26–28, 1988 | | | 26% | 65% | 9% |

## Endorsements

Newspapers
* Chattanooga Times Free Press
Newspapers
* Knoxville News Sentinel

## Results

1988 United States Senate election in Tennessee :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Jim Sasser (incumbent) | 1,020,061 | 65.09% |
| | Republican | Bill Andersen | 541,033 | 34.52% |
| | Independent | Khalil-Ullah Al-Muhaymin | 6,042 | 0.39% |
| | Independent | Write-ins | 45 | 0.39% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 1,567,181 | 100.00% |