Tennessee state elections in 2022 were held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022.

Primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

s for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

governorship A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' may ...

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee , Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any ...

, and

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

, as well as various

judicial The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

retention election A retention election or retention referendum is a referendum where voters are asked if an office holder, usually a judge, should be allowed to continue in that office. The judge is removed from office if a majority of votes are cast against rete ...

s, including elections for all five

Tennessee Supreme Court The Tennessee Supreme Court is the highest court in the state of Tennessee. The Supreme Court's three buildings are seated in Nashville, Knoxville, and Jackson, Tennessee. The Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, and four justice ...

justices as well as general local elections, were held on August 4, 2022. There were also four constitutional amendments to the

Constitution of Tennessee The Constitution of the State of Tennessee defines the form, structure, activities, character, and fundamental rules (and means for changing them) of the U.S. State of Tennessee. The original constitution of Tennessee came into effect on June 1, ...

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 district Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional body. Countries with congressional districts includ ...

Results

Gubernatorial

Incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

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

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. The Tennessee primaries took place on August 4, 2022, with Lee and

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Jason Martin winning their respective parties' nominations. Lee was sworn in on January 21, 2023.

Results

August 4, 2022, primary results 2022 Tennessee gubernatorial Democratic primary

State legislature

State Senate

Results by senate districts Winners: Elections for 17 of the 33 seats in Tennessee's State Senate were held on November 8, 2022. There were three open seats and 14 incumbents who ran for re-election. Following the 2022 elections, no seats flipped.

State House of Representatives

2022 Tennessee House of Representatives election map

Results by state house districts Winners: The election of all 99 seats in the

occurred on November 8, 2022. Republicans gained two seats, expanding their supermajority in the state house even more.

John Windle John Mark Windle (born May 21, 1962) is an American politician who is a former member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing District 41 from 1991 to 2023. In 2022, Windle filed to run as an independent after serving as a Democ ...

lost his re-election bid after registering as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Close races

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

Ballot measures

Amendment 1

This is an approved

legislatively referred constitutional amendment A legislative referral (or legislative referendum) is a referendum in which a legislature puts proposed legislation up for popular vote. This may either be voluntarily or, as is the case in many countries for a constitutional amendment, as a ma ...

to the

. The amendment adds language to the constitution to prohibit workplaces from requiring mandatory

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

membership for employees as a condition for employment. The

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

has been a

right-to-work state In the context of labor law in the United States, the term right-to-work laws refers to state laws that prohibit union security agreements between employers and labor unions. Such agreements can be incorporated into union contracts to require ...

by statute since 1947. However, this referendum will make the law a right and amendment written into the state's constitution.

Amendment 2

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 A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

by the Speaker of the Senate—or the

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

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 Resignation is the formal act of relinquishing or vacating one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or ...

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 A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis. ...

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.

Amendment 3

This amendment would change the current language in article I, section 33 of the Tennessee Constitution, which says that

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

and

involuntary servitude Involuntary servitude or involuntary slavery, more commonly known as just slavery, is a legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that person's will to benefit another, under some form of coercion, to which it may constitute ...

, except as punishment for a person who has been duly convicted of

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

, 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."

Amendment 4

This amendment would delete article IX, section 1 of the Tennessee Constitution, which prohibits

ministers Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

of the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

s of any denomination from holding a seat in either House of the legislature.

Judicial

Supreme Court retention elections

2022 Tennessee Supreme Retention Court Races by Congressional Districts

All

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

Justices won their retention elections.

District Attorneys

Tennessee District Attorneys, who serve as the prosecutors for felonies in the state, are elected to eight-year terms. One attorney is elected for each of the 32 judicial districts in Tennessee. This election marked the first for the newly established 32nd district. Following the 2014 elections, 16 attorneys were affiliated with the Republican Party, 5 with the Democratic Party, and 10 were Independents.

Results

Source:

District Attorney General District 11 (Countywide)

Hamilton County TN District Attorney General District 11 election

Republican nominee Coty Wamp, daughter of former U.S. representative

Zach Wamp Zachary Paul Wamp (born October 28, 1957) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 1995 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district is based in Chattanooga and includes large parts of East Tennessee, ...

, and sister of

Weston Wamp Weston Wamp (born March 26, 1987) is an American politician who is currently serving as the mayor of Hamilton County, Tennessee since 2022. He is the youngest mayor in Hamilton County history at 34 years old when he was first 2022 Hamilton County ...

, won with 59.0% of the vote, defeating Democratic nominee John Allen Brooks.

Results

May 3, 2022, primary results

Local elections

Hamilton County

County Mayor

Republican nominee

, son of former U.S. representative

, won with 57.9% of the vote, defeating Democratic nominee Matt Adams. Incumbent Republican mayor Jim Coppinger, who was appointed county mayor in 2011, chose not to run for a fourth term.

Results

May 3, 2022, primary results

Knox County

Incumbent Republican mayor

Glenn Jacobs Glenn Thomas Jacobs (born April 26, 1967), also known by his ring name Kane, is an American politician, actor and professional wrestler. He rose to fame in WWE and is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. In 2018 ...

won re-election with 55.3% of the vote, defeating Democratic nominee Debbie Helsley.

Results

May 3, 2022, primary results

Shelby County

Incumbent Democratic Mayor Lee Harris won re-election with 58.0% of the vote, defeating Republican nominee Worth Morgan.

Results

May 3, 2022, primary results

Clarksville

Democratic mayor Joe Pitts ran for re-election and won a second term in office in a three-way race.

Murfreesboro

Republican mayor

Shane McFarland Shane McFarland (born August 5, 1974) is an American politician who is currently serving as the 57th Mayor of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, since 2014. He was first elected on April 15, 2014, 40 years old, making him the youngest mayor in Murfreesboro ...

ran for re-election and won a third term in office in a three-way race.

Notes

References

{{2022 United States elections 2022 Tennessee elections

U.S. state constitutional amendments

United States Congress

House of Representatives

Results

Gubernatorial

Results

State legislature

State Senate

State House of Representatives

Close races

Ballot measures

Amendment 1

Amendment 2

Amendment 3

Amendment 4

Judicial

Supreme Court retention elections

District Attorneys

Results

District Attorney General District 11 (Countywide)

Results

Local elections

Hamilton County

County Mayor

Results

Knox County

Results

Shelby County

Results

Clarksville

Murfreesboro

See also

Notes

References