1948 United States Senate election in Tennessee

← 1942

November 2, 1948

1954 →


Nominee	Estes Kefauver	B. Carroll Reece
Party	Democratic	Republican
Popular vote	326,142	166,947
Percentage	65.33%	33.44%

Senator before election

Tom Stewart
Democratic

Elected Senator

Estes Kefauver
Democratic

Federal government

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The 1948 United States Senate election in Tennessee took place on November 2, 1948, concurrently with the U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Senator Tom Stewart was defeated in the Democratic primary by Estes Kefauver.^[1] In the general election, Kefauver defeated Republican Congressman B. Carroll Reece.

Democratic primary

Candidates

John Hardin
John Hickey
Estes Kefauver, U.S. Representative from Chattanooga
John Randolph Neal Jr., attorney, professor and perennial candidate
John Ridley Mitchell, former U.S. Representative from Cookeville
Tom Stewart, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1938

Results

Democratic Party primary results^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Estes Kefauver	171,791	42.24%
	Democratic	Tom Stewart (incumbent)	129,873	31.94%
	Democratic	John Mitchell	96,192	23.65%
	Democratic	George M. Hardin	5,415	1.33%
	Democratic	John Randolph Neal Jr.	1,876	0.46%
	Democratic	John Hickey	1,534	0.38%
Total votes			406,681	100.00%

Republican primary

Parts of this article (those related to Section) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2024)

General election

General election results^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Estes Kefauver	326,142	65.33%
	Republican	B. Carroll Reece	166,947	33.44%
	Independent	John Randolph Neal Jr.	6,103	1.22%
	None	Scattering	26	0.01%
Majority			159,195	31.89%
Turnout			499,218
	Democratic hold

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary

General election

See also

References