The 2000 United States presidential election in Tennessee was held on November 7, 2000, and was part of the 2000 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Tennessee was won by Texas Governor George W. Bush by a 3.87% margin of victory, despite having voted for President Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 and being the home state of Vice President Al Gore. Had Gore carried his home state, he would have won the presidency. Gore's defeat was considered an upset, as he had previously won every county in Tennessee in 1990 in his Senate bid and was popular in the state prior to his election as vice president.
This was the last of three consecutive elections in which Tennessee was decided by single-digit margins, and as of 2024, this is the last election in which Tennessee was decided by less than 13%. Since 2000, Tennessee has rapidly moved away from swing state status and become a Republican stronghold. Gore was the first major party nominee to lose his home state since George McGovern lost South Dakota in 1972. Additionally, this was the first election where a presidential nominee won the state with more than a million votes.
As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last election in which Campbell County, Lewis County, Robertson County, Gibson County, Dickson County, Bedford County, Franklin County, Warren County, Henry County, Marshall County, Giles County, Marion County, White County, Hickman County, DeKalb County, Crockett County, Cannon County, and Decatur County voted for the Democratic nominee. Gore's victories in Marion and Campbell remain the last time that a Democrat has carried any county in staunchly Republican East Tennessee, this was also the last time a Democrat crossed 40% in East Tennessee. The election served as the last in which Tennessee was regarded as a swing state in some outlets.
Primary elections
Democratic primary
The 2000 Tennessee Democratic presidential primary was held on March 14, 2000, as one of six contests scheduled the following week after Super Tuesday. The Tennessee primary was an open primary, with the state awarding 81 delegates towards the 2000 Democratic National Convention, of which 68 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.
Vice president Al Gore easily decided the primary in his home state, winning 92.1% of the vote and all 68 delegates. Senator Bill Bradley took only 5.3% of the vote and earned 0 delegates, while Lyndon LaRouche Jr. only got 0.5% of the vote.
Republican primary
The 2000 Tennessee Republican presidential primary was held on March 14, 2000, as one of 6 contests scheduled the following week after Super Tuesday. The Tennessee primary was an open primary, with the state awarding 37 delegates towards the 2000 Republican National Convention.
George W. Bush won the primary with 77.0% of the vote and all 37 of the state's delegates. John McCain came second with 14.5% of the vote. Alan Keyes came third with 6.8% of the vote.
General election
Results
By county
- Anderson (largest city: Oak Ridge)
- Carroll (largest city: McKenzie)
- Cheatham (largest city: Ashland City)
- Coffee (largest city: Tullahoma)
- Dyer (largest city: Dyersburg)
- Fayette (largest town: Oakland)
- Fentress (largest city: Jamestown)
- Lawrence (largest city: Lawrenceburg)
- Maury (largest city: Columbia)
- McNairy (largest city: Selmer)
- Meigs (largest city: Decatur)
- Montgomery (largest city: Clarksville)
- Moore (largest city: Lynchburg)
- Morgan (largest city: Coalfield)
- Obion (largest city: Union City)
- Polk (largest city: Benton)
- Putnam (largest city: Cookeville)
- Roane (largest city: Oak Ridge)
- Sequatchie (largest city: Dunlap)
- Union (largest city: Maynardville)
- Weakley (largest city: Martin)
By congressional district
Bush won six of nine congressional districts, including one held by a Democrat.
Electors
The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18, 2000 to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead, the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for George Bush and Dick Cheney:
- Lamar Alexander
- Daniel Dirksen Baker
- Lana Bowman Ball
- Nancy Cunningham
- Winfield Dunn
- Jimmy Exum
- Jim Henry
- Raja Jubran
- Anie Kent
- Patti Saliba
- Mamon Wright
Analysis
Along with his razor-thin loss in Florida, this was the closest Gore came to winning any Southern state. Gore lost his home state due to Bush's gains in rural counties, overcoming Gore's gains in Davidson County (home to Nashville, Tennessee) and Shelby County (home to Memphis). In the concurrent 2000 United States Senate election in Tennessee, Republican Bill Frist won the state by 33%, a harbinger of the state's further shift rightward in future years.