The 2018 Tennessee gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next

governor of Tennessee The governor of Tennessee is the head of government of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The governor is the only official in Tennessee state government who is directly elected by the voters of the entire state. The current governor is Bill Lee, a ...

. Republican Bill Lee was elected with nearly 60% of the vote.

Incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

Republican Governor

Bill Haslam William Edward Haslam (; born August 23, 1958) is an American billionaire businessman and politician who served as the 49th governor of Tennessee from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Haslam previously served as the 67th mayor of ...

was term-limited, and is prohibited by the Constitution of Tennessee from seeking a third consecutive term. The primaries took place on August 2, 2018, with Republican Bill Lee and Democrat Karl Dean winning their respective party nominations. After the general election, the results marked the first time since

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

that a candidate from the incumbent U.S. President's party was elected Governor of Tennessee. This is also the first time that Republicans won three consecutive gubernatorial elections in the state, and the first time that a Republican was elected to succeed another Republican. As of , this election had the largest number of candidates (28) in a statewide election in United States history; the previous record was the

2016 United States presidential election in Colorado The 2016 United States presidential election in Colorado was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Colorado voters chose el ...

. This large surge in candidates was mostly due to the Libertarian Party of Tennessee's protest of the state's party affiliation and

ballot access Elections in the United States refers to the rules and procedures regulating the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots. As the nation's election process is decentralized b ...

laws.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominated

* Bill Lee, businessman

Eliminated in primary

* Diane Black, U.S. Representative * Randy Boyd, former Tennessee cabinet official * Beth Harwell, Speaker of the

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 consi ...

Basil Marceaux Basil Marceaux, Sr. (born May 26, 1952) is an American perennial candidate who has on multiple occasions run for state and federal public office in Tennessee. Most recently, he filed as a candidate for the 2010 Republican nominations for gove ...

, perennial candidate * Kay White, realtor and Democratic nominee for Tennessee's 1st congressional district in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Withdrawn

Mae Beavers Mae Beavers (born December 11, 1947 in Millport, Alabama) is an American politician and public servant. A Republican, she was a member of the Tennessee Senate for the 17th district from 2003 until she resigned to run for governor in August 2017 ...

, former

state senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of ...

(unsuccessfully ran for Wilson County Mayor) * Mark Green, state senator (successfully ran in Tennessee's 7th congressional district)

Declined

Marsha Blackburn Mary Marsha Blackburn (née Wedgeworth; born June 6, 1952) is an American politician and businesswoman serving as the senior United States senator from Tennessee, a seat she has held since 2019. She is a member of the Republican Party. Blackbur ...

, U.S. Representative ( successfully ran for the U.S. Senate) *

Tim Burchett Timothy Floyd Burchett (born August 25, 1964) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative for , based in Knoxville, serving since 2019. A Republican, Burchett was formerly mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. He served in the Tennessee ...

, Mayor of Knox County ( successfully ran in

Tennessee's 2nd congressional district The 2nd congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district in East Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican Tim Burchett since January 2019. Current boundaries The district is located in East Tennessee and borders Kentucky ...

) *

Joe Carr Joseph Benedict Carr (22 February 1922 – 3 June 2004) was an Irish amateur golfer. Carr was born in Inchicore, a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, to George and Margaret Mary "Missie" Waters (the fifth of seven children). At 10 days old, he was ado ...

, former

state representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United S ...

, perennial candidate *

Bob Corker Robert Phillips Corker Jr. (born August 24, 1952) is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Chair of the Senate Foreign Rel ...

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

Stephen Fincher Stephen Lee Fincher (born February 7, 1973) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2017. He is a member of the Republican Party. The seat was vacated by retiring Democratic incumbent John S. Tanner in 2010, ...

, former U.S. Representative *

Alberto Gonzales Alberto R. Gonzales (born August 4, 1955) is an American lawyer who served as the 80th United States Attorney General, appointed in February 2005 by President George W. Bush, becoming the highest-ranking Hispanic American in executive governme ...

, dean of the

Belmont University Belmont University is a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporated in 1951 as Belmont College. It be ...

School of Law and former U.S. Attorney General *

Bill Hagerty William Francis Hagerty IV (born August 14, 1959) is an American politician, businessman, and former diplomat serving as the junior United States senator from Tennessee since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 30th U.S. ...

United States Ambassador to Japan The is the ambassador from the United States of America to Japan. History Since the opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, in 1854, the U.S. has maintained diplomatic relations with Japan, except for the ten-year period between the ...

and former Tennessee cabinet official *

Tre Hargett Gus Lusk "Tré" Hargett III (born February 7, 1969) is an American Republican Party politician who is serving as the 37th Secretary of State of Tennessee since 2009. Early life and education He is the son of Tennessee Adjutant General Gus L. H ...

Tennessee Secretary of State The Tennessee Secretary of State is an office created by the Tennessee State Constitution. The Secretary of State is responsible for many of the administrative aspects of the operation of state government of Tennessee. The current Secretary of S ...

* Rob Mitchell, Rutherford County property assessor * Mark Norris, Majority Leader of the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of 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 issue rega ...

, appointed as judge to the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee *

Andy Ogles William Andrew Ogles IV (born June 18, 1971) is an American far-right politician and businessman who has served as the U.S. representative from Tennessee's 5th congressional district since 2023 and served as mayor of Maury County, Tennessee, ...

, director of Tennessee chapter of

Americans for Prosperity Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States funded by Charles Koch and formerly his brother David. As the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group, it is one ...

(successfully ran for Mayor of

Maury County Maury County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee, in the Middle Tennessee region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,974. Its county seat is Columbia. Maury County is part of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesbo ...

) *

Ron Ramsey Ronald Lynn Ramsey (; born November 20, 1955) is an American auctioneer, politician, and lobbyist, who served as the 49th lieutenant governor of Tennessee and speaker of the State Senate from 2007 to 2017. A Republican from Blountville in Eas ...

, former

Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee The lieutenant governor and speaker of the Senate of Tennessee is the presiding officer of the Tennessee Senate and first in line in the succession to the office of governor of Tennessee in the event of the death, resignation, or removal from ...

and candidate for Governor of Tennessee in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominated

* Karl Dean, former

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

, 2007–2015

Eliminated in primary

* Craig Fitzhugh, Minority Leader of the

* Mezianne Vale Payne, retiree

Declined

* Andy Berke,

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

and former state senator * Bill Freeman, businessman and candidate for Mayor of

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Tennessee gubernatorial Democratic primary, 2018

Independents

Candidates

* Mark CoonRippy Brown (Independent) * Sherry L. Clark (

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

) * Justin Cornett (Libertarian) * Gabriel Fancher (Libertarian) * Sean Bruce Fleming (Libertarian) * William Andrew Helmstetter (Libertarian) * Cory King (Libertarian) * Matthew Koch (Libertarian) * Yvonne Neubert (

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

) * Alfred Shawn Rapoza (Libertarian) * Chad Riden, comedian (Independent) * Heather Scott (Libertarian) * George Blackwell Smith IV (Libertarian) * Jeremy Allen Stephenson (Libertarian) * Tracy Yaste Tisdale (Libertarian) * Mike Toews (Libertarian) * Rick Tyler, candidate for TN-03 in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

* Vinnie Vineyard (Funkmaster V from Wrestling With Ghosts) (Libertarian) * Jaron D. Weidner (Libertarian) * Joe B. Wilmoth (Independent) *Patrick Whitlock (Independent)

Notes

General election

Debates

Complete video of debate
October 2, 2018
Complete video of debate
October 12, 2018

Endorsements

Predictions

Polling

;with Karl Dean ;with Craig Fitzhugh

Results

References

External links

Candidates
at

Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Candidates
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

;Official campaign websites
Karl Dean (D) for Governor

Bill Lee (R) for Governor

Chad Riden (I) for Governor

Vinnie Vineyard (L) for Governor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennessee gubernatorial election, 2018

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

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2018 United States gubernatorial elections