Tennessee's electoral votes in U.S. presidential elections 1796-2020

Tennessee has taken part in 56 U.S. presidential elections since 1796, voting for the nationwide winner in 35 of these elections, which gives a success rate of 63 percent. Throughout most of the 20^th century, Tennessee was a bellweather state, siding with the nationwide winner in all but two elections between 1912 and 2004. In its early history, Tennessee sided with the Democratic-Republican nominee and Whig nominee in all elections they participated in, before voting mainly Democratic from the mid-19^th to mid-20^th centuries. The only time where Tennessee did not vote for a major party candidate was in the 1860 election, where it backed Tennessee-born John C. Bell of the Constitutional Union Party, and it's electoral votes were rejected in the following election due to the circumstances of the state's capture during the American Civil War. There was also a case in 1820, where one elector died before being able to cast their ballot, while in 1948 one faithless elector cast their ballot for the Dixiecrat candidate Strom Thurmond. Tennessee has voted Republican in most elections since 1952, including all of the past six, and in the 2020 election Donald Trump won the popular vote with 23 percent margin of victory.

Tennessee natives

As of 2020, no U.S. president has ever been born in the Volunteer State, however Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson all represented Tennessee in Congress, and declared it as their home state when ascending to the presidency; all three are currently buried in Tennessee. In addition to these three, and the previously mentioned John C. Bell, Hugh L. White and Al Gore are the only other major party candidates to have declared Tennessee as their home state while running for president in 1836 and 2000 respectively.

Electoral votes

Tennessee's allocation of electoral votes grew in its early years, and peaked at 15 votes between 1832 and 1840. It then dropped to just twelve votes for the second half of the nineteenth century, and has been eleven in most elections since 1932.