1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee

The 1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jim Sasser ran for re-election to a fourth term but was defeated by Republican nominee Bill Frist.[2] This is the last time that a Senator from Tennessee lost re-election.

1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee

← 1988 November 8, 1994 2000 →
Turnout56.62%[1]
 
Nominee Bill Frist Jim Sasser
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 834,226 623,164
Percentage 56.35% 42.10%

County results
Frist:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Sasser:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election

Jim Sasser
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Bill Frist
Republican

The election was held concurrently with the special election for the open Tennessee U.S. Senate seat, which had been held by Democrat Al Gore until his election as Vice President of the United States, and which was sought by Republican nominee Fred Thompson and Democratic nominee Jim Cooper; Thompson won in a decisive victory. As a result of Frist and Thompson's simultaneous victories in Tennessee, the two elections marked the first time since 1978 and the last time until 2021 that both Senate seats in a state have flipped from one party to the other in a single election cycle.

Major candidates

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Democratic

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Republican

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Republican Party primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Bill Frist 197,734 44.37%
Republican Bob Corker 143,808 32.27%
Republican Steve Wilson 50,274 11.28%
Republican Harold Sterling 28,425 6.38%
Republican Byron Bush 14,267 3.20%
Republican Andrew Benedict 11,117 2.50%

[3]

Campaign

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Heading into the election, Sasser was a three term incumbent, who had previously won his last two elections with over 60% of the vote. He was also chair of the powerful Senate Budget Committee, and with the incoming retirement of Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell of Maine, Sasser was seen as the most likely candidate to succeed him, were he to have won a fourth term [4]

However, there were two unforeseen events that affected the campaign. One was the large scale of discontent that the American people seemed to have toward the first two years of the Clinton administration, especially the proposal for a national healthcare system largely put together and advocated by Clinton's wife, Hillary Clinton. The other was the somewhat unexpected nomination of Nashville heart transplant surgeon Bill Frist for the seat by the Republicans.

Frist, who had never voted until he was 36,[5] was a political unknown and a total novice at campaigning, but was from one of Nashville's most prominent and wealthiest medical families, which gave him some name recognition, as well as adequate enough resources to match the campaign war chest built up by the three-term incumbent, a challenge most "insurgent" candidates find to be impossible. A further factor working to Frist's advantage was a simultaneous Republican campaign by actor and attorney Fred Thompson for the other Tennessee Senate seat, which was open due to Al Gore resigning to become Vice President of the United States.

Another factor in Frist's favor was that Sasser was never seen as possessing much charisma of his own. During the campaign Nashville radio stations were derisive towards Sasser to the point of stating that he could only win "a Kermit The Frog lookalike contest."

In one of the largest upsets in a night of political upsets in the November 1994 U.S. general elections, Frist defeated the incumbent Sasser by approximately 14 percentage points.

Results

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General election results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Bill Frist 834,226 56.35
Democratic Jim Sasser (incumbent) 623,164 42.10
Independent John Jay Hooker 13,244 0.90
Independent Charles F. Johnson 6,631 0.45
Independent Philip Kienlen 3,087 0.21
Write-In Candidates 39 0.00
Majority 211,062 14.26
Turnout 1,480,391 100.00%
Republican gain from Democratic

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Tennessee Voter Turnout in 1994". Tennessee Secretary of State. November 8, 1994. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  2. ^ "Our Campaigns - Race -".
  3. ^ "Our Campaigns - TN US Senate - R Primary Race - Aug 04, 1994". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  4. ^ "After 17 Years, Tennessee's Jim Sasser Emerging From Senate Anonymity". AP NEWS. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  5. ^ MASTERSON, KAREN (December 24, 2002). "Unanimous vote names Frist new Senate leader". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved October 14, 2020.