2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee

Tennessee Republican primary, 2012
	March 6, 2012
	Tennessee results by county Rick Santorum Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich

Tennessee Democratic primary, 2012
	March 6, 2012
	Tennessee results by county Barack Obama

2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee
	November 6, 2012
Turnout	61.86% [1] 4.48 pp
Romney 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%	Obama 50–60% 60–70%
President before election; Barack Obama; Democratic	Elected President ; Barack Obama; Democratic

The 2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Tennessee voters chose 11 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.

Romney easily carried Tennessee's 11 electoral votes, winning 59.48% of the vote in the state to Obama's 39.08%.[2] Romney's 20.40% margin of victory was the strongest performance by any presidential candidate in the state since Richard Nixon's 1972 landslide. Tennessee has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since 1996, when Bill Clinton won the state and many other states of the South, and the Volunteer State has not given a majority to a Democratic nominee since fellow Southerner Jimmy Carter carried it in 1976. Thus, Tennessee has been seen as part of the modern-day red wall in the 21st century. After 1996, the state has been growing more Republican with each election.[3]

As consistent with the rest of the country, Obama carried heavily populated and diverse counties. The largest county, Shelby, was won by Obama by a 26.08% margin due to it being home to Memphis, Tennessee's largest city. In addition, the home of the state capital of Nashville, Davidson County, went to Obama by 18.58%. Hardeman and Haywood counties, both low-populated suburbs of Memphis, also went to Obama due to their high African American populations (42.2%[4] and 50.6%,[5] respectively). However, rural areas – including areas in the northwestern portion of the state that had long favored Democratic candidates – saw heavy margins for Romney, allowing him to offset Obama's wins in large cities. The eastern region of the state in Appalachia, some of the most historically Republican and Unionist counties in the country, saw margins of over 70% for the Republican ticket.[6]

Romney also flipped two counties, Houston and Jackson, to the Republican column. Both of these majority-white counties had been Democratic strongholds with their strong ties to secessionism: they had each only voted for a Republican presidential nominee once prior to this election, in 1928 and 1920, respectively.[7]

As of 2020, this is the most recent election in which Hardeman County was won by the Democratic presidential nominee. This is also the first and only time that a Democratic president has won re-election without carrying Tennessee.

Primaries

Democratic

The 2012 democratic primary in Tennessee took place on Super Tuesday, March 6, 2012, with Barack Obama receiving 80,355 (88.5%) votes. Other candidates received a combined total of 10,411 (11.5%) votes.[8] Tennessee had a total of 91 delegates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention, of which 82 were pledged to presidential contenders depending on the popular vote. The remaining 9 super-delegates were unbound.

Tennessee Democratic primary, 2012[9]
Candidate	Popular vote		Delegates
Candidate	Count	Percentage	Pledged delegates	Super delegates	Total delegates
Barack Obama	80,705	88.48%	82	9	91
Uncommitted	10,497	11.51%	0	0	0
John Wolfe Jr. (write-in)	7	0.00%	0	0	0
Total:	91,209	100%	91	29	251

Republican

The Republican primary took place on Super Tuesday, March 6, 2012.[10][11]

Tennessee has 58 delegates to the 2012 Republican National Convention. Three superdelegates are unbound. 27 delegates are awarded by congressional district, 3 delegates for each district. If a candidate wins two-thirds of the vote in a district, he takes all 3 delegates there; if not, delegates are split 2-to-1 between the top two candidates. Another 28 delegates are awarded to the candidate who wins two-thirds of the vote statewide, or allocated proportionately among candidates winning at least 20% of the vote if no one gets two-thirds.[12]

Former Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum won the primary with a plurality, carrying 37.11% of the vote and all but four counties, awarding him 29 delegates. Former Massachusetts Governor and eventual nominee, Mitt Romney, came second with 28.06% of the vote and 19 delegates. He carried only three counties: Davidson, Loudon, and Williamson. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich of neighboring Georgia, came third with 23.96% of the vote and 9 delegates, carrying only the county of Marion. Representative from Texas Ron Paul received 9.04% of the vote and all other candidates received under 1% of the vote.[13]

Results

Tennessee Republican primary, 2012[14]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Projected delegate count
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	NYT [15]	CNN [16]	FOX [17]
Rick Santorum	205,809	37.11%	29	27	26
Mitt Romney	155,630	28.06%	14	15	12
Newt Gingrich	132,889	23.96%	9	8	9
Ron Paul	50,156	9.04%	0	0	0
Rick Perry (withdrawn)	1,966	0.35%	0	0	0
Michele Bachmann (withdrawn)	1,895	0.34%	0	0	0
Jon Huntsman (withdrawn)	1,239	0.22%	0	0	0
Buddy Roemer (withdrawn)	881	0.16%	0	0	0
Gary Johnson (withdrawn)	572	0.10%	0	0	0
Uncommitted	3,536	0.64%	0	0	0
Unprojected delegates:			6	8	9
Total:	554,573	100.00%	58	58	58

General election

Results

United States presidential election in Tennessee, 2012
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	1,462,330	59.48%	11
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	960,709	39.08%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	18,623	0.67%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	6,515	0.26%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	6,022	0.24%	0
	Justice	Rocky Anderson	Luis J. Rodriguez	2,639	0.11%	0
	American Third Position	Merlin Miller	Virginia D. Abernethy	1,739	0.07%	0
Totals				2,458,577	100.00%	11

By county

County	Mitt Romney Republican		Barack Obama Democratic		Other votes		Total votes
County	%	#	%	#	%	#	Total votes
Anderson	63.95%	18,968	34.13%	10,122	01.92%	569	29,659
Bedford	69.46%	10,034	29.15%	4,211	01.38%	200	14,445
Benton	61.84%	3,850	36.27%	2,258	01.90%	118	6,226
Bledsoe	69.33%	3,022	29.07%	1,267	01.61%	70	4,359
Blount	71.98%	35,441	26.27%	12,934	01.74%	859	49,234
Bradley	76.25%	27,422	22.35%	8,037	01.40%	504	35,963
Campbell	71.10%	8,604	27.50%	3,328	01.40%	169	12,101
Cannon	66.54%	3,309	31.45%	1,564	02.01%	100	4,973
Carroll	66.58%	7,225	32.02%	3,475	01.39%	151	10,851
Carter	75.20%	15,503	23.23%	4,789	01.58%	325	20,617
Cheatham	67.63%	10,268	30.69%	4,659	01.68%	255	15,182
Chester	73.07%	4,684	25.34%	1,624	01.59%	102	6,410
Claiborne	74.84%	7,617	23.90%	2,433	01.26%	128	10,178
Clay	61.95%	1,747	36.77%	1,037	01.28%	36	2,820
Cocke	73.85%	8,459	24.48%	2,804	01.67%	191	11,454
Coffee	67.62%	13,023	30.48%	5,870	01.90%	366	19,259
Crockett	68.81%	3,783	30.36%	1,669	00.84%	46	5,498
Cumberland	73.88%	18,653	24.80%	6,261	01.32%	333	25,247
Davidson	39.87%	97,622	58.45%	143,120	01.69%	4,131	244,873
Decatur	67.61%	2,874	30.65%	1,303	01.74%	74	4,251
DeKalb	64.51%	4,143	33.85%	2,174	01.64%	105	6,422
Dickson	63.34%	11,296	34.95%	6,233	01.72%	306	17,835
Dyer	71.89%	9,921	27.22%	3,757	00.88%	122	13,800
Fayette	64.83%	12,689	34.17%	6,688	01.01%	197	19,574
Fentress	76.04%	5,243	22.64%	1,561	01.32%	91	6,895
Franklin	63.66%	10,262	34.76%	5,603	01.58%	254	16,119
Gibson	65.51%	12,883	33.38%	6,564	01.12%	220	19,667
Giles	64.03%	6,915	34.82%	3,760	01.15%	124	10,799
Grainger	75.43%	5,470	23.00%	1,668	01.57%	114	7,252
Greene	72.19%	17,245	26.06%	6,225	01.75%	417	23,887
Grundy	59.38%	2,516	38.78%	1,643	01.84%	78	4,237
Hamblen	72.49%	14,522	26.13%	5,234	01.38%	276	20,032
Hamilton	56.62%	79,933	41.67%	58,836	01.71%	2,412	141,181
Hancock	74.63%	1,527	23.22%	475	02.15%	44	2,046
Hardeman	46.60%	4,865	52.51%	5,482	00.88%	92	10,439
Hardin	75.14%	7,886	23.51%	2,467	01.35%	142	10,495
Hawkins	72.65%	14,382	25.70%	5,088	01.65%	327	19,797
Haywood	39.11%	2,960	60.36%	4,569	00.53%	40	7,569
Henderson	73.80%	7,421	25.03%	2,517	01.16%	117	10,055
Henry	64.31%	8,193	34.06%	4,339	01.62%	207	12,739
Hickman	62.59%	4,758	35.49%	2,698	01.92%	146	7,602
Houston	52.16%	1,579	46.25%	1,400	01.59%	48	3,027
Humphreys	55.85%	3,833	42.33%	2,905	01.82%	125	6,863
Jackson	56.96%	2,383	41.56%	1,739	01.48%	62	4,184
Jefferson	74.25%	13,038	24.10%	4,232	01.65%	289	17,559
Johnson	74.44%	4,611	23.94%	1,483	01.61%	100	6,194
Knox	63.60%	109,707	34.43%	59,399	01.97%	3,401	172,507
Lake	55.73%	1,163	42.36%	884	01.92%	40	2,087
Lauderdale	53.12%	4,616	46.16%	4,011	00.71%	62	8,689
Lawrence	70.77%	10,770	27.84%	4,237	01.39%	212	15,219
Lewis	66.40%	3,117	30.83%	1,447	02.77%	130	4,694
Lincoln	73.88%	9,803	24.80%	3,290	01.32%	175	13,268
Loudon	75.69%	16,707	22.91%	5,058	01.40%	308	22,073
Macon	76.18%	5,260	22.48%	1,552	01.35%	93	6,905
Madison	54.03%	21,993	45.13%	18,367	00.84%	342	40,702
Marion	60.26%	6,272	37.98%	3,953	01.77%	184	10,409
Marshall	63.61%	6,832	34.68%	3,725	01.71%	184	10,741
Maury	62.74%	20,708	35.83%	11,825	01.43%	473	33,006
McMinn	72.71%	12,967	25.84%	4,609	01.45%	258	17,834
McNairy	71.57%	7,015	26.98%	2,645	01.45%	142	9,802
Meigs	68.97%	2,734	29.34%	1,163	01.69%	67	3,964
Monroe	71.80%	11,731	26.76%	4,372	01.44%	235	16,338
Montgomery	54.41%	30,245	44.08%	24,499	01.51%	840	55,584
Moore	73.35%	2,053	25.19%	705	01.46%	41	2,799
Morgan	71.79%	4,669	26.52%	1,725	01.69%	110	6,504
Obion	71.68%	8,814	27.01%	3,321	01.32%	162	12,297
Overton	62.30%	4,775	36.60%	2,805	01.10%	84	7,664
Perry	60.21%	1,578	37.85%	992	01.95%	51	2,621
Pickett	69.79%	1,712	29.03%	712	01.18%	29	2,453
Polk	67.80%	4,108	30.63%	1,856	01.57%	95	6,059
Putnam	67.66%	17,254	30.60%	7,802	01.74%	444	25,500
Rhea	73.67%	7,802	24.82%	2,628	01.51%	160	10,590
Roane	69.82%	14,724	28.53%	6,018	01.65%	348	21,090
Robertson	67.11%	17,643	31.53%	8,290	01.35%	356	26,289
Rutherford	61.56%	60,846	36.84%	36,414	01.61%	1,588	98,848
Scott	76.74%	5,117	21.78%	1,452	01.48%	99	6,668
Sequatchie	68.86%	3,541	28.96%	1,489	02.18%	112	5,142
Sevier	76.73%	25,984	21.91%	7,418	01.36%	462	33,864
Shelby	36.55%	135,649	62.63%	232,443	00.81%	3,017	371,109
Smith	63.43%	4,495	34.85%	2,470	01.72%	122	7,087
Stewart	57.93%	2,963	40.45%	2,069	01.62%	83	5,115
Sullivan	72.74%	43,562	25.58%	15,321	01.68%	1,004	59,887
Sumner	70.38%	46,003	28.42%	18,579	01.20%	784	65,366
Tipton	69.23%	16,672	29.62%	7,133	01.15%	276	24,081
Trousdale	55.49%	1,612	42.69%	1,240	01.82%	53	2,905
Unicoi	71.01%	5,032	27.00%	1,913	01.99%	141	7,086
Union	73.47%	4,282	25.36%	1,478	01.17%	68	5,828
Van Buren	60.26%	1,386	38.04%	875	01.70%	39	2,300
Warren	61.54%	8,010	36.51%	4,752	01.94%	253	13,015
Washington	68.30%	32,808	29.82%	14,325	01.87%	899	48,032
Wayne	77.52%	4,253	21.20%	1,163	01.28%	70	5,486
Weakley	69.75%	8,605	28.76%	3,548	01.49%	184	12,337
White	67.80%	6,197	30.58%	2,795	01.62%	148	9,140
Williamson	72.59%	69,850	26.13%	25,142	01.28%	1,233	96,225
Wilson	70.12%	36,109	28.53%	14,695	01.35%	695	51,499

County Flips:

Democratic

Hold

Republican

Hold

Gain from Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Houston (largest city: Erin)
Jackson (largest town: Gainesboro)

By congressional district

Mitt Romney swept the state and carried seven of the state's nine congressional districts, all represented by Republicans. Barack Obama carried the state's two congressional districts, the 5th and 9th, anchored by the two largest cities of Nashville and Memphis, respectively.[18]

District	Romney	Obama	Representative
1st	72.7%	25.7%
1st	72.7%	25.7%	Phil Roe
2nd	67.3%	30.9%	John J. Duncan, Jr.
3rd	63.3%	35.1%	Chuck Fleischmann
4th	65.3%	33.1%	Scott DesJarlais
5th	42.5%	55.9%	Jim Cooper
6th	69.1%	29.5%	Diane Black
7th	65.7%	32.9%	Marsha Blackburn
8th	66.1%	32.8%	Stephen Fincher
9th	20.9%	78.3%	Steve Cohen

References

"Tennessee Voter Turnout in 2012". Tennessee Secretary of State. November 6, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
"Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - Tennessee". Retrieved 4 January 2013.
Moskowitz, Seth (March 2, 2020). "The Road to 270: Tennessee". 270toWin. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
"U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Hardeman County, Tennessee". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
"U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Haywood County, Tennessee". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
Rothenberg, Stuart (October 3, 2017). "What Happened to Mountain Republicans in the South?". Inside Elections. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
Skelley, Geoffrey. "County winners, 1836-2016". Google Sheets. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
"State of Tennessee Democratic presidential primary" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-12. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
"State of Tennessee March 6, 2012 Democratic Primary Presidential Preference" (PDF). Tennessee Elections. Tennessee Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 12, 2017. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
"Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
"Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
Nate Silver (March 4, 2012). "Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
"Tennessee Republican Primary - Election Results". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
"Election results March 2012. County totals" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-18. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
"Tennessee Republican Primary - Election Results" – via NYTimes.com.
"Tennessee - CNN". CNN. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
"Tennessee - Fox News". Fox News. Archived from the original on 2012-04-07. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
Nir, David (November 19, 2020). "Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for 2020, 2016, and 2012". Daily Kos.

External links

The Green Papers for Tennessee (Republican)
The Green Papers for Tennessee (Democratic)
The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Tennessee Voter Turnout in 2012". Tennessee Secretary of State. November 6, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[2] "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - Tennessee". Retrieved 4 January 2013.

[3] Moskowitz, Seth (March 2, 2020). "The Road to 270: Tennessee". 270toWin. Retrieved 2020-11-29.

[4] "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Hardeman County, Tennessee". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 29, 2020.

[5] "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Haywood County, Tennessee". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 29, 2020.

[6] Rothenberg, Stuart (October 3, 2017). "What Happened to Mountain Republicans in the South?". Inside Elections. Retrieved November 29, 2020.

[7] Skelley, Geoffrey. "County winners, 1836-2016". Google Sheets. Retrieved November 29, 2020.

[8] "State of Tennessee Democratic presidential primary" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-12. Retrieved 2016-09-17.

[9] "State of Tennessee March 6, 2012 Democratic Primary Presidential Preference" (PDF). Tennessee Elections. Tennessee Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 12, 2017. Retrieved September 17, 2016.

[10] "Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 12, 2012.

[11] "Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.

[12] Nate Silver (March 4, 2012). "Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved March 5, 2012.

[13] "Tennessee Republican Primary - Election Results". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-29.

[14] "Election results March 2012. County totals" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-18. Retrieved 2012-03-29.

[15] "Tennessee Republican Primary - Election Results" – via NYTimes.com.

[16] "Tennessee - CNN". CNN. Retrieved 30 December 2022.

[17] "Tennessee - Fox News". Fox News. Archived from the original on 2012-04-07. Retrieved 2012-03-29.

[18] Nir, David (November 19, 2020). "Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for 2020, 2016, and 2012". Daily Kos.

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2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee

Primaries

Democratic

Republican

Results

General election

Results

By county

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

By congressional district

See also

References

External links