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  TN US Senate - D Primary
RACE DETAILS
Parents > United States > Tennessee > Senate Class II
OfficeSenate
HonorificSenator - Abbr: Sen.
TypeDemocratic Primary Election
Filing Deadline July 10, 1948 - 12:00pm Central
Polls Open August 04, 1948 - 06:00am Central
Polls Close August 04, 1948 - 07:00pm Central
Term Start January 03, 1949 - 12:00pm
Term End January 03, 1955 - 12:00pm
ContributorRBH
Last ModifiedRBH July 18, 2018 08:33pm
Data SourcesSouthern Primaries and Elections, 1920-1949
Description
The 1948 race for the U.S. Senate was unexpectedly interesting. Tom Stewart, then in his second term, was a protege of Tennessee boss Edward H. Crump. Never able to expand his base of support in the Democratic Party, Stewart had won re-nomination in 1942 only with a heavy vote in the Memphis area (he lost the center and eastern portions of the state). An arch-conservative, Stewart had proposed stripping Japanese Americans of their citizenship during World War II and was sometimes called Sen. McKellar's "me, too" man [NYT 11/16/1947].

U.S. Rep. Estes Kefauver announced his intention of challenging Stewart on 11/15/1947. Kefauver was a five-term member of the U.S. House and was only 44 years old at the time of his announcement. Unlike Stewart, Kefauver was a strong supporter of organized labor and programs such as TVA and OPA. As such, Boss Crump said of Kefauver that he would "rather vote for Marcantonio" than Kefauver. [NYT 11/16/1947]

At first, Stewart said that he would announce whether he would run again when he was "good and ready." He became "good and ready" fairly quickly, as Crump sent out feelers that Stewart needed to be standing on his own and not need to be bailed out again. Stewart thus announced his candidacy on 12/8/1947 even though Crump had not agreed to support him [NYT 12/9/1947].

The campaign season developed into a referendum on Crump's "king maker" ability to choose the Democratic nominees for statewide offices. Gordon Browning ran for the Demo

[More...]
LAST GENERAL ELECTION
  PartyDemocratic Won11/03/1942
NameA. Tom Stewart Votes109,881 (68.88%)
Term01/03/1943 - 01/03/1949 Margin75,557 (+47.36%)
NEXT GENERAL ELECTION
  PartyDemocratic Won11/02/1948
NameC. Estes Kefauver Votes326,142 (65.33%)
Term01/03/1949 - 01/03/1955 Margin159,195 (+31.89%)
NEXT GENERAL ELECTION
RaceTN US Senate 11/02/1948

CANDIDATES
Photo  
Name Rep. C. Estes Kefauver (I) Sen. A. Tom Stewart John A. Mitchell George M. Hardin John Randolph Neal, Jr. John Hickey  
PartyDemocratic Democratic Democratic Democratic Democratic Democratic  
Campaign Logo  
Certified Votes 171,791 (42.24%) 129,873 (31.94%) 96,192 (23.65%) 5,415 (1.33%) 1,876 (0.46%) 1,534 (0.38%)  
Margin0 (0.00%) -41,918 (-10.31%) -75,599 (-18.59%) -166,376 (-40.91%) -169,915 (-41.78%) -170,257 (-41.86%)  
Predict Avg.0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%  
Cash On Hand $-- $-- $-- $-- $-- $--  
Website  
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