1948 United States Senate election in Tennessee

• George W. Hardin
• John Hickey
• Estes Kefauver, U.S. Representative from Chattanooga
• John R. Neal, attorney, professor and perennial candidate
• John A. Mitchell, incumbent judge for the 5th Judicial Circuit{{cite news|title=Judge Mitchell Dies; Rites Set|date=August 4, 1982|page=20|newspaper=The Tennessean|location=Nashville, Tennessee|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-obituary-for-john-a-mitc/45611947/|access-date=September 27, 2024|via=Newspapers.com|quote=Mitchell ventured outside the judicial field once - in an unsuccessful race in 1948 for the U.S. Senate.}}
• Tom Stewart, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1938

{{Election box begin no change|title=Democratic Party primary results{{cite book|last1=Frist|first1=William H.|last2=Annis, Jr.|first2=J. Lee|title= Tennessee Senators, 1911-2001: Portraits of Leadership in a Century of Change|year=1999|publisher=Madison Books|location=Lanham|url=https://archive.org/details/tennesseesenator0000fris/page/n3/mode/2up?q=%22Reece%22|access-date=September 26, 2024|via=Internet Archive|page=288}}}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|candidate=C. Estes Kefauver|party=Democratic Party (United States)|votes=171,791|percentage=42.24%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=A. Tom Stewart (incumbent)|party=Democratic Party (United States)|votes=129,873|percentage=31.94%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=John Mitchell|party=Democratic Party (United States)|votes=96,192|percentage=23.65%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=George W. Hardin|party=Democratic Party (United States)|votes=5,415|percentage=1.33%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=John R. Neal|party=Democratic Party (United States)|votes=1,876|percentage=0.46%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=John Hickey|party=Democratic Party (United States)|votes=1,534|percentage=0.38%}}

{{Election box total no change

| votes =406,681

| percentage=100.00%

}}

{{Election box end}}

While B. Carroll Reece was the Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Republican leaders in Tennessee began to discuss the prospect of Reece running for the United States Senate. As Tennessee law allowed a person to qualify for a primary without candidate consent, Reece's associates entered his name into the primary. Reece stepped down from his chairmanship of the RNC after the nomination of Thomas E. Dewey at the 1948 Republican National Convention. After considering the option of running for his former position representing Tennessee's 1st congressional district, Reece instead announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate.{{cite web|last=Bowers|first=Fashion Suzanne|title=Republican, First, Last, and Always: A Biography of B. Carroll Reece|publisher=University of Tennessee|location=Knoxville, Tennessee|year=2007|access-date=September 25, 2024|pages=132–133|url=https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/128}} Allen J. Strawbridge, a lawyer from Dresden, Tennessee, was also certified to participate in the Republican primary.{{cite news|title=Reece and Hillbilly Tennessee Candidates|date=July 19, 1948|newspaper=The Lewiston Daily Sun|access-date=September 26, 2024|via=Google Newspapers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5U0AAAAIBAJ&dq=%22Allen%22+J.+Strawbridge+Republican&pg=PA11&article_id=3025,1630366}} Reece defeated Strawbridge in the Republican primary.

{{Election box begin no change|title=Republican Party primary results}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|candidate=B. Carroll Reece|party=Republican Party (United States)|votes=82,522|percentage=81.7%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|candidate=Allen J. Strawbridge|party=Republican Party (United States)|votes=18,526|percentage=18.3%}}

{{Election box total no change

| votes =101,048

| percentage=100.00%

}}

{{Election box end}}

In the general election, Reece ran on an anti-communist platform. An uncertainty at the beginning of the general election was Boss Crump. Kefauver had won over Crump's preferred candidate and Crump had long maintained a political détente with East Tennessee Republicans. Tennessee Republicans were optimistic that Crump would either support Reece or oppose Kefauver. While Crump did not support Kefauver, he did drop his opposition in the month before the election. Reece lost the general election by a similar margin as most Tennessee Republicans running statewide in that era.

{{Election box begin no change|title=General election results{{Cite web |title=Our Campaigns - TN US Senate Race - Nov 02, 1948 |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=89838 |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=www.ourcampaigns.com}}}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|party=Democratic Party (US)|candidate=Estes Kefauver|votes=326,142|percentage=65.33%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (US)|candidate=B. Carroll Reece|votes=166,947|percentage=33.44%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Independent (US)|candidate=John Randolph Neal Jr.|votes=6,103|percentage=1.22%}}

{{Election box candidate no change|party=None|candidate=Scattering|votes=26|percentage=0.01%}}

{{Election box majority no change|votes=159,195|percentage=31.89%}}

{{Election box turnout no change|votes=499,218|percentage=}}

{{Election box hold with party link no change|winner=Democratic Party (US)|loser=|swing=}}

{{Election box end}}

• 1948 United States Senate elections
• 1948 Tennessee gubernatorial election

{{reflist}}

1954

Tennessee

United States Senate