Republican Bill Lee elected governor

With competitive races for U.S. Senate and governor for the first time in years, Tennesseans flocked to the polls Tuesday during a midterm election with national implications.

Republican Bill Lee was declared a winner in the race for Tennessee governor, and the outcome of the race for the U.S. Senate remained unclear as of publication. But the election drew widespread interest — not just from the outside groups looking to influence the state but from voters themselves.

Young voters turned out in larger numbers, and ahead of Election Day, more than 1.3 million people cast ballots during early voting, just 50,000 fewer than the overall total during the 2014 midterm election. And as polls closed, some voters remained in line waiting to cast their ballots.

The centerpiece of Tuesday’s election in Tennessee was the U.S. Senate race between Republican Marsha Blackburn and Democrat Phil Bredesen, which quickly became the most expensive statewide race in Tennessee history.

With Republicans looking to protect or add to their slim 51-49 majority in the Senate, outside groups threw nearly $58 million into the race, on top of the two candidates spending $22 million.

Blackburn, a 16-year congressman from Brentwood, positioned herself as a

partisan fighter closely aligned with President Donald Trump, who just two years ago won the state by 26 points.

Bredesen, a former two-term governor and mayor of Nashville, sought to tamp down the partisan rhetoric while looking to court independents and moderates by reminding them of his accomplishments.

Heading into Tuesday, Blackburn had the edge according to most of the recent public polls. But with Trump coming back to Tennessee for a lastminute visit for Blackburn on Sunday and the late infusion of money by national groups, the outcome of the election remained uncertain.

Beyond the Senate race, Tennesseans had an opportunity to determine the state’s next governor as term-limited Gov. Bill Haslam leaves the office he has held for eight years.

Republican Lee and Democrat Karl Dean squared off in a contest that remained cordial — though still expensive — throughout the race.

Lee, owner of Franklin-based Lee Company, an HVAC, electrical and plumbing business, entered the field with no government experience and having never before sought political office.

Traveling the state by tractor and later by RV, Lee made his Christian faith central to his campaign, calling for the government to expand partnerships with nonprofit organizations and the private sector to tackle criminal justice reform, create jobs and improve the quality of public education. Dean, a two-term mayor of Nashville from 2007 to 2015, campaigned as a moderate, attempting to appeal to independents — and even Republicans — in a move similar to the strategy of the Bredesen campaign.

While Dean was a vocal advocate of Medicaid expansion throughout the race, he also touted his pro-business platform, record of improving schools in Nashville and his decades of government experience and willingness to work across the political aisle.

Lee emerged from a field of four Republicans in the August primary, beating out U.S. Rep. Diane Black, R-Gallatin; Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd; and House Speaker Beth Harwell, RNashville. Dean defeated House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, in the Democratic primary.

Becoming the most expensive governor’s race in state history, the Republican candidates spent nearly $50 million in the primary, though Lee refrained from launching attacks as part of his campaign strategy. Since becoming their parties’ nominees, Dean spent $5.2 million and Lee $4.4 million.

Michael Sances, an assistant political science professor at the University of Memphis, said Tuesday’s election is a check on the state’s political standing.

“We are a solidly red statewide, but we also have four large urban centers that are deeply blue,” he said. “In recent years (after the state flipped from solid blue), the Republicans who have won statewide are, again, relatively moderate.”

Although both marquee elections received top billing, Tennesseans also cast ballots to decide the state’s nine U.S. House, 17 state Senate and 99 state House of Representatives seats.

On Tuesday, as voters headed to the polls throughout the state there were reports of some minor issues.

A Monday night storm swept through the state, causing power outages in parts of East Tennessee.

In Memphis, some residents faced lingering issues over the status of their voter registration.

Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com. Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean. com and on Twitter at @natalie_allison.