2022 Tennessee elections

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Elections in Tennessee
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Government
v t e

Tennessee state elections in 2022 were held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. Primary elections for the United States House of Representatives, governorship, Tennessee Senate, and Tennessee House of Representatives, as well as various judicial retention elections, including elections for all five Tennessee Supreme Court justices, were held on August 4, 2022. There were also four constitutional amendments to the Constitution of Tennessee on the November 8 ballot.

United States Congress

House of Representatives

Tennessee elected nine U.S. Representatives, each representing one of Tennessee's nine Congressional Districts.

Results

Gubernatorial

Incumbent Republican Governor Bill Lee was re-elected to a second term with almost 65% of the vote, improving on his performance from 2018.

The Tennessee primaries took place on August 4, 2022, with Lee and Democrat Jason Martin winning their respective parties' nominations.^[1][2]

Lee was sworn in on January 21, 2023.

Results

August 4, 2022, primary results

State legislature

State senate

Results by senate districts

Elections for 17 of the 33 seats in Tennessee's State Senate were held on November 8, 2022. There were 3 open seats and 14 incumbents that ran for re-election.

Following the 2022 elections, no seats flipped.

Summary of the November 8, 2022 Tennessee Senate election results

Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
			No.	%	Before	Up	Won	After	+/–
	Republican	15	546,264	70.64	27	13	13	27
	Democratic	10	207,273	26.81	6	4	4	6
	Independent	3	19,716	2.55	0	0	0	0
Total			773,253	100.00	33	17	17	33
Source: [1]

State House of Representatives

Results by state house district

The election of all 99 seats in the Tennessee House of Representatives occurred on November 8, 2022.

Republicans gained two seats, expanding their supermajority in the state house even more. John Windle lost his re-election bid after registering as an Independent.

Summary of the November 8, 2022 Tennessee House election results

Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
			No.	%	No.	+/–
	Republican	81	1,077,324	70.48	75	2
	Democratic	54	410,589	26.86	24	1
	Independent	12	39,777	2.60	0	1
	Write-in		804	0.05	0
Total			1,528,494	100.00	99
Source: [2]

Close races

Four races were decided by a margin of 10% or less:

Ballot measures

Amendment 1

Amendment 1

Shall Article XI of the Constitution of Tennessee be amended by adding the following language as a new section? "It is unlawful for any person, corporation, association, or this state or its political subdivisions to deny or attempt to deny employment to any person by reason of the person's membership in, affiliation with, resignation from, or refusal to join or affiliate with any labor union or employee organization."
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 1,141,941 69.79% No 494,239 30.21% Valid votes 1,636,180 100.00% Invalid or blank votes 0 0.00% Total votes 1,636,180 100.00%
Yes   70–80%   60–70%   50–60%
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State[7]

This is an approved legislatively referred constitutional amendment to the Constitution of Tennessee. The amendment adds language to the constitution to prohibit workplaces from requiring mandatory labor union membership for employees as a condition for employment.^[8] The U.S. state of Tennessee has been a right-to-work state by statute since 1947. However, this referendum will make the law a right and amendment written into the state's constitution.^[9]

Amendment 2

Amendment 2

Shall Article III, Section 12 of the Constitution of Tennessee be amended by adding the following language immediately following the current language in the Section? "Whenever the Governor transmits to the Secretary of State, the Speaker of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, a written, signed declaration that the Governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office, the powers and duties of the office of Governor shall be temporarily discharged by the Speaker of the Senate as Acting Governor, or if that office is unoccupied, then by the Speaker of the House of Representatives as Acting Governor, until the Governor transmits to the same officials a written, signed declaration that the Governor is able to discharge the powers and duties of the office. Whenever a majority of the commissioners of administrative departments of the Executive Department transmits to the Secretary of State, the Speaker of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written, signed declaration that the Governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office, the Speaker of the Senate shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting Governor, or if that office is unoccupied, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting Governor, until the Governor transmits to the same officials a written, signed declaration that the Governor is able to discharge the powers and duties of the office. Whenever a Speaker is temporarily discharging the powers and duties of the office of Governor as Acting Governor, such Speaker shall not be required to resign the Speaker’s position as the Speaker or to resign as a member of the general assembly and shall retain the Speaker’s salary and not receive the Governor’s salary, but such Speaker shall not preside as Speaker or vote as a member of the general assembly during the time the Speaker is Acting Governor." and Shall Article III, Section 13 of the Constitution of Tennessee be amended by adding the following language immediately before the period at the end of the Section? "except as provided in Article III, Section 12 with regard to the Speaker of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives temporarily discharging the powers and duties of the office of Governor as Acting Governor" and Shall Article II, Section 26 of the Constitution of Tennessee be amended by adding the following language at the end of the Section? "This section shall not apply with regard to the Speaker of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives temporarily discharging the powers and duties of the office of Governor as Acting Governor under Article III, Section 12."
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 1,176,297 74.62% No 400,109 25.38% Valid votes 1,576,406 100.00% Invalid or blank votes 0 0.00% Total votes 1,576,406 100.00%
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State[7]

This amendment would add to article III, section 12 of the Tennessee Constitution a process for the temporary exercise of the powers and duties of the governor by the Speaker of the Senate—or the Speaker of the House if there is no Speaker of the Senate in office—when the governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor. While a Speaker is temporarily discharging the powers and duties of the governor, the Speaker would not be required to resign as Speaker or to resign as a member of the legislature; but the Speaker would not be able to preside as Speaker or vote as a member of the legislature. A Speaker who is temporarily discharging the powers and duties of the governor would not get the governor’s salary but would get the Speaker’s salary. The amendment would also exempt a Speaker who is temporarily discharging the powers and duties of the governor from provisions in the Constitution that would otherwise prohibit the Speaker from exercising the powers of the governor and from simultaneously holding more than one state office.^[10]

Amendment 3

Amendment 3

Shall Article I, Section 33 of the Constitution of Tennessee be amended by deleting the section and substituting instead the following? "Section 33. Slavery and involuntary servitude are forever prohibited. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an inmate from working when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime."
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 1,294,296 79.53% No 333,071 20.47% Valid votes 1,627,367 100.00% Invalid or blank votes 0 0.00% Total votes 1,627,367 100.00%
Yes   80–90%   70–80%   60–70%
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State[7]

This amendment would change the current language in article I, section 33 of the Tennessee Constitution, which says that slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a person who has been duly convicted of crime, are forever prohibited in this State. The amendment would delete this current language and replace it with the following language: “Slavery and involuntary servitude are forever prohibited. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an inmate from working when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime."^[10]

Amendment 4

Amendment 4

Shall Article IX, Section 1 of the Constitution of Tennessee be amended by deleting the section?
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 1,020,981 63.24% No 593,461 36.76% Valid votes 1,614,442 100.00% Invalid or blank votes 0 0.00% Total votes 1,614,442 100.00%
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State[7]

This amendment would delete article IX, section 1 of the Tennessee Constitution, which prohibits ministers of the gospel and priests of any denomination from holding a seat in either House of the legislature.^[10]

Supreme Court

Retention elections (August 4, 2022)

All incumbent Tennessee Supreme Court Justices won their retention elections.

Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice, Roger A. Page retention election^[11]

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	450,681	72.11
No	174,269	27.89
Total votes	624,950	100.00

Tennessee Supreme Court Associate Justice, Sharon G. Lee retention election^[11]

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	463,799	72.98
No	171,522	27.02
Total votes	635,321	100.00

Tennessee Supreme Court Associate Justice, Jeffrey S. Bivins retention election^[11]

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	462,036	71.53
No	183,853	28.47
Total votes	645,889	100.00

Tennessee Supreme Court Associate Justice, Holly M. Kirby retention election^[11]

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	468,351	73.81
No	166,200	26.19
Total votes	634,551	100.00

Tennessee Supreme Court Associate Justice, Sarah K. Campbell retention election^[11]

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	466,860	72.93
No	173,306	27.07
Total votes	640,166	100.00