Tennessee Republicans had a good night, clinching both of the marquee statewide races and further dimming Democrats’ hopes of getting control of the U.S. Senate. In the governor’s race, Republican businessman Bill Lee has defeated Democrat Karl Dean, the former mayor of Nashville. Lee will be the first governor to succeed someone of his same party—namely two-term Republican Bill Haslam—since the 1960s.
And for the U.S. Senate, House member Marsha Blackburn, the Republican, has won her race against former governor and Democrat Phil Bredesen. That race gained national attention after pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Bredesen, a relative moderate who had won two statewide elections.
But after a few polls showed a closer-than-expected contest between Blackburn and Bredesen, the race reverted to where Tennessee has been trending more broadly: toward the Republicans.
