The 2000 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place 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 GovernorGeorge 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 PresidentAl Gore. If Gore had carried his home state, he, instead of Bush, would have been elected president.[1]
This was the last of three consecutive elections in which Tennessee was decided by single-digit margins, and as of 2020, this is the last election with such results. Since 2000, Tennessee has rapidly moved away from swing state status and become a Republican stronghold.[2] This was also the first time a major-party candidate lost his home state since George McGovernlost South Dakota in 1972. Additionally, this was the first election where a presidential candidate won the state with more than a million votes. As of the 2020 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 candidate. This is also the last time that Tennessee voted to the left of Arizona or Colorado, as well as both neighboring Virginia and North Carolina.
The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18, 2000[3] 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:[4]
Lamar Alexander
Daniel Dirksen Baker
Lana Bowman Ball
Nancy Cunningham
Winfield Dunn
Jimmy Exum
Jim Henry
Raja Jubran
Anie Kent
Patti Saliba
Mamon Wright
Results[]
United States presidential election in Tennessee, 2000[5]