1988 United States Senate election in Tennessee

The 1988 United States election in Tennessee was held on November 8, 1988. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jim Sasser won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican nominee Bill Andersen with 65.1% of the vote.

1988 United States Senate election in Tennessee

← 1982 November 8, 1988 1994 →
 
Nominee Jim Sasser Bill Andersen
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 1,020,061 541,033
Percentage 65.09% 34.52%

County results
Sasser:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
Andersen:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election

Jim Sasser
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Jim Sasser
Democratic

As of 2024, this was the last time the Democrats won the Class 1 Senate seat from Tennessee.

Major candidates

edit

Democratic

edit

Republican

edit

Campaign

edit

Sasser raised $1.5 million in 1987 to ward off significant opposition according to his aide Doug Hall. Andersen started raising funds for a congressional campaign in 1985, under the belief that U.S. Representative Jimmy Quillen would retire, but Quillen sought reelection. Andersen instead switched to a senatorial campaign.[2]

Sasser declined to acknowledge Andersen's attacks during the campaign and instead focused on his congressional work while his staff responded to the attacks. Andersen called for six televised debates, but Sasser rejected the demand and only accepted one debate in Nashville.[2]

After the election Andersen stated that polling conducted by his campaign reported that "one out of three Tennesseans had not yet identified who I was and what my message means".[3]

Sasser won every county in the state except for two. He received 58% of the vote in the eastern region of the state which is usually Republican, 68% in the middle, and 71% in the west.[4]

Polling

edit
Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Bill
Anderson
Republican
Jim
Sasser
Democratic
Other /
Undecided
Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy[3] Early October 27% 62% 11%
Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy[3] October 26–28, 1988 26% 65% 9%

Endorsements

edit
Bill Andersen
Jim Sasser

Results

edit
1988 United States Senate election in Tennessee[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Jim Sasser (incumbent) 1,020,061 65.09%
Republican Bill Andersen 541,033 34.52%
Independent Khalil-Ullah Al-Muhaymin 6,042 0.39%
Independent Write-ins 45 0.39%
Total votes 1,567,181 100.00%

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Lamis, Alexander P. (August 1999). Southern Politics in the 1990s. LSU Press. ISBN 9780807166772.
  2. ^ a b c d Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 209.
  3. ^ a b c Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 210.
  4. ^ Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 215.
  5. ^ Thomas 1989, p. 23.

Works cited

edit