ELEMENTARY CIVICS
Part Seven: Election Year

We've talked about Tennessee, about the governor, and about the legislature. But we haven't talked about how we choose all these state leaders.

On November 4, 2008, the big news was the election of President Barack Obama. But Tennessee's voters also elected:

* One of our two U.S. Senators
* All nine U.S. House of Representative seats
* All 99 State House of Representative seats
* 16 of the 33 state senate seats
Statewide, these were the big results:

* Tennessee voted for Republican John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama by about 1.48 million to 1.09 million votes (not a surprise in a state that was expected to go Republican in that race)
* Republican Senator Lamar Alexander was easily re-elected, defeating Democratic challenger Bob Tuke
* Eight of the nine U.S. Representatives in Tennessee were re-elected, the one newcomer being former Johnson City mayor Phil Roe of the First District, who defeated incumbent David Davis in the Republican primary and went on to win the general election in November.
* Most of the state representatives and senators running for re-election were retained. However, in a huge development, the Republicans picked up enough seats to claim a majority of the 99-member Tennessee State House.
Click here for a quiz on what you've learned in the elementary civics section.

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