Sanford: Tennessee is red, but state is getting some love at DNC
Tennessee state Reps. Justin Pearson, Gloria Johnson and Justin Jones raise their fists in solidarity at a rally to support the reinstatement of Pearson by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners April 12, 2023. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
Otis Sanford
Otis Sanford is professor emeritus of Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Memphis and political commentator for WATN-TV ABC24 News. Contact him at o.sanford@memphis.edu.
Barring a cataclysmic political shift, Tennessee will again be a nonfactor in deciding the outcome of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
The Volunteer State has been decidedly and reliably in the Republican Party column since 2000. That was the year native son and then-Vice President Al Gore lost his home state to George W. Bush 51% to 47%, an outcome that cost Gore the presidency in the closest electoral vote count since Rutherford B. Hayes was elected by a single electoral vote in 1876.
In 2004, in winning reelection, Bush improved his standing and carried Tennessee by 14 percentage points over Democrat John Kerry. Since then, Republicans have stretched their margin of victory in Tennessee to as much as 26 points, which occurred in 2016 when Donald Trump trounced Hillary Clinton, 61% to 35%.
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