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The Political Graveyard: A Database of American History
Tennessee: Governors

Governors of Tennessee, 1796-2019 (May be incomplete!)
John Sevier 1796-1801 Archibald Roane 1801-03 John Sevier 1803-09 William Blount 1809-15 Joseph McMinn 1815-21 William Carroll 1821-27 Sam Houston 1827-29 William Hall 1829 William Carroll 1829-35 Newton Cannon 1835-39 James K. Polk 1839-41 James C. Jones 1841-45 Aaron V. Brown 1845-47 Neill S. Brown 1847-49 William Trousdale 1849-51 William B. Campbell 1851-53 Andrew Johnson 1853-57 Isham G. Harris 1857-62 Andrew Johnson 1862-65 E. H. East 1865 William G. Brownlow 1865-69 DeWitt Clinton Senter 1869-71 John C. Brown 1871-75 James D. Porter, Jr. 1875-79 Albert S. Marks 1879-81 Alvin Hawkins 1881-83 William B. Bate 1883-87 Robert L. Taylor 1887-91 John P. Buchanan 1891-93 Peter Turney 1893-97 Robert L. Taylor 1897-99 Benton McMillin 1899-1903 James B. Frazier 1903-05 John I. Cox 1905-07 Malcolm R. Patterson 1907-11 Ben W. Hooper 1911-15 Tom C. Rye 1915-19 A. H. Roberts 1919-21 Alfred A. Taylor 1921-23 Austin Peay IV 1923-27 Henry H. Horton 1927-33 Hill McAlister 1933-37 Gordon Browning 1937-39 Prentice Cooper 1939-45 Jim Nance McCord 1945-49 Gordon Browning 1949-53 Frank G. Clement 1953-59 Buford Ellington 1959-63 Frank G. Clement 1963-67 Buford Ellington 1967-71 Winfield Dunn 1971-75 Ray Blanton 1975-79 Lamar Alexander 1979-87 Ned McWherter 1987-95 Donald K. Sundquist 1995-2003 Phil Bredesen 2003-11 Bill Haslam 2011-19 Bill Lee 2019-

Events and Candidates (may be incomplete!)

  • 1815: Robert C. Foster, defeated.
  • 1817: Robert C. Foster, defeated.
  • 1827: Newton Cannon, defeated; William Blount, defeated.
  • 1835: Newton Cannon, elected.
  • 1837: Newton Cannon, elected.
  • 1839: Newton Cannon, defeated.
  • 1845: Ephraim H. Foster (Whig), defeated.
  • 1853: Gustavus Adolphus Henry, defeated.
  • 1855: Gustavus Adolphus Henry, defeated.
  • 1867: Emerson Etheridge, defeated.
  • 1874: Horace Maynard, defeated.
  • 1880: John Vines Wright, defeated.
  • 1882: William B. Bate, elected.
  • 1884: William B. Bate, elected.
  • 1886: Alfred A. Taylor (Rep), defeated.
  • 1894: H. Clay Evans (Rep), defeated.
  • 1896: George N. Tillman (Rep), defeated.
  • 1908: Edward W. Carmack (Dem), defeated for nomination; George N. Tillman (Rep), defeated.
  • 1912 Nov 5: Ben W. Hooper (Rep), elected; Benton McMillin (Dem), defeated; William F. Poston (Progressive), defeated; C. G. Howard (Socialist), defeated.
  • 1914 Nov 3: Tom C. Rye (Dem), elected; Ben W. Hooper (Rep), defeated; J. N. Lotspeich (Socialist), defeated.
  • 1916 Nov 7: Tom C. Rye (Dem), elected; John W. Overall (Rep), defeated; L. D. Wiles (Socialist), defeated.
  • 1918 Nov 5: A. H. Roberts (Dem), elected; H. B. Lindsey (Rep), defeated.
  • 1920 Nov 2: Alfred A. Taylor (Rep), elected; A. H. Roberts (Dem), defeated; J. M. Lindsley (Socialist), defeated.
  • 1922 Nov 7: Austin Peay IV (Dem), elected; Alfred A. Taylor (Rep), defeated.
  • 1924 Nov 4: Austin Peay IV (Dem), elected; T. F. Peck (Rep), defeated.
  • 1926 Nov 2: Austin Peay IV (Dem), elected; Walter White (Rep), defeated; S. W. Williams (Ind), defeated.
  • 1927 Oct 2: Austin Peay IV, died in office.
  • 1928 Nov 6: Henry H. Horton (Dem), elected; Raleigh Hopkins (Rep), defeated.
  • 1930 Nov 4: Henry H. Horton (Dem), elected; C. Arthur Bruce (Rep), defeated; Samuel Borenstein (Ind), defeated.
  • 1938: Gordon Browning, defeated for nomination; Howard H. Baker (Rep), defeated.
  • 1948: Roy Acuff (Rep), defeated.
  • 1950: Clifford Robertson Allen, defeated.
  • 1952: Gordon Browning, defeated for nomination; Clifford Robertson Allen, defeated.
  • 1954 Aug 5: Frank G. Clement (Dem), nominated; Gordon Browning (Dem), defeated in primary; Raulston Schoolfield (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1954 Nov 2: Frank G. Clement (Dem), elected; John R. Neal (Ind), defeated.
  • 1956: Clifford Robertson Allen, defeated.
  • 1958 Aug 7: Buford Ellington (Dem), nominated; Andrew T. Taylor (Dem), defeated in primary; Edmund Orgill (Dem), defeated in primary; Clifford Robertson Allen (Dem), defeated in primary; Jake Armstrong (Dem), defeated in primary; John Hickey (Dem), defeated in primary; G. Edward Friar (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1962: William R. Anderson (Ind), defeated; Hubert D. Patty (Rep), defeated.
  • 1970: William L. Jenkins (Rep), defeated in primary.
  • 1974 Nov 5: Ray Blanton (Dem), elected; Lamar Alexander (Rep), defeated; Jack Comer (Ind), defeated; Alfred W. Taylor (Ind), defeated; James E. Reesor (Ind), defeated; Hubert D. Patty (Ind), defeated; Arnold J. Zandi (Ind), defeated.
  • 1978: Richard H. Fulton, defeated for nomination.
  • 1978: Robert N. Clement (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1982 Aug 5: Randy Tyree (Dem), nominated; Anna Belle O'Brien (Dem), defeated in primary; Tom Henry (Dem), defeated in primary; Tommy McKnight (Dem), defeated in primary; John G. Love (Dem), defeated in primary; Luther Martin Kindall (Dem), defeated in primary; James Wesley Thomas (Dem), defeated in primary; Virginia Nyabongo (Dem), defeated in primary; Boyce T. McCall (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1982 Aug 5: Lamar Alexander (Rep), nominated unopposed.
  • 1982 Nov 2: Lamar Alexander (Rep), elected; Randy Tyree (Dem), defeated.
  • 1986: Richard H. Fulton, defeated for nomination.
  • 1994: Donald K. Sundquist (Rep), elected.
  • 1998: Donald K. Sundquist (Rep), elected.
  • 2002: Van Hilleary, defeated.
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