Tennessee major parties held their primaries on Thursday, August 2. The surprise winner of the Democratic Party primary winner is Mark E. Clayton, a floor finisher who did not campaign and whose issue stances are completely at odds with the Democratic Party. See this story about the primary.
The unofficial vote totals are: Mark Clayton 48,126; Gary Gene Davis 24,789; Park Overall 24,263; Larry Crim 17,383; Benjamin Roberts 16,369; Dave Handock 16,167; T. K. Owens 13,366. The total turnout, only 160,463 votes, is quite low, although Democratic primaries in Tennessee typically have low turnout in August. In 2008 only 183,348 voters voted in the U.S. Senate primary in August, although the 2008 Democratic presidential primary in February had 624,764 voters.
On August 3, the Democratic Party formally disavowed Clayton and said it might seek court action to replace him as the nominee. See this story. Whether a party can do that in Tennessee is still unsettled. The 6th circuit heard a somewhat similar case from Tennessee on January 17, 2012, and still has not handed down its decision. The U.S. District Court in that case, Kurita v The State Primary Board of the Democratic Party, said a party can replace a primary nominee with someone else.
Tennessee has open primaries. The Green Party, the Constitution Party, and the Libertarian Party, all have U.S. Senate nominees in Tennessee this year. However, the Tennessee Elections office so far refuses to list the Green Party nominee and the Constitution Party nominee on its web page, even though in February a U.S. District Court put those parties on the ballot and they certified their nominees. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.
