1984 United States Senate election in Tennessee

← 1978

November 6, 1984

1990 →


Nominee	Al Gore	Victor Ashe	Ed McAteer
Party	Democratic	Republican	Independent
Popular vote	1,000,607	557,016	87,234
Percentage	60.72%	33.80%	5.29%

County results
Gore: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90%
Ashe: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%

U.S. senator before election

Howard Baker
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Al Gore
Democratic

Federal government

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The 1984 United States Senate election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 1984, to select the U.S. Senator from the state of Tennessee. Popular three-term Republican incumbent Howard Baker, who had served as United States Senate Majority Leader since 1981 (Minority Leader from 1977 to 1981) decided not to seek re-election in order to concentrate on a planned bid for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination (which did not happen, as he later accepted a White House Chief of Staff position under President Ronald Reagan). This left the seat open.

In the general election, Democratic candidate Al Gore, son of former senator Albert Gore Sr., won easily, flipping the Republican held seat to Democratic hands.

Democratic Primary

Democrats nominated Representative and future Vice President of the United States Al Gore, whose father, Albert Gore, Sr., had once held Tennessee's other Senate seat.

Results

Democratic primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Al Gore	476,582	100.00%
Total votes			476,582	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

State Senator Victor Ashe
Jack McNeil
Hubert David Patty

Results

In the primary, held on August 2, Ashe easily emerged as a winner.

Republican primary results^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Victor Ashe	145,744	86.47%
	Republican	Jack McNeil	17,970	10.66%
	Republican	Herbert David Patty	4,777	2.83%
	Republican	Write-in	49	0.03%
Total votes			168,540	100%

General election

Although the Senate election coincided with the landslide re-election of President Reagan, who carried Tennessee by a wide margin, this time his victory did not have any coattails, as it did in 1980, and Democrats picked up three Republican seats. One of the Democratic gains was in Tennessee, where conservative Democrat Gore won in a landslide:^[2]

General election results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Al Gore	1,000,607	60.72%
	Republican	Victor Ashe	557,016	33.80%
	Independent	Ed McAteer	87,234	5.29%
	Independent	Khalil-Ullah Al-Muhaymin	3,179	0.19%
Total votes			1,648,036	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

References

^ "TN US Senate- R Primary Race - Aug 02, 1984". Our Campaigns. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
^ "TN US Senate Race - Nov 06, 1984". Our Campaigns. Retrieved March 19, 2022.

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Portal:Politics Third party (U.S. politics) List of third-party and independent performances in United States elections Third-party and independent members of the United States Congress

Democratic Primary

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

General election

See also

References