NATIONAL ELECTION RETURNS : EDITION-TIME COMPILATIONS : State-by-State Election Reports of Key Races and Issues : Tennessee
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NASHVILLE — State House Speaker Ned McWherter, a sharecropper’s son who built a business fortune, defeated former GOP Gov. Winfield C. Dunn in the gubernatorial race.
Democrat McWherter and Dunn agreed on most issues, but squabbled over federal income taxes and whether their business interests posed conflicts of interest. McWherter, 56, pledged to put his $6 million in holdings in trust.
Incumbent Gov. Lamar Alexander, a popular Republican, was barred from seeking a third consecutive four-year term.
With 46% of the state’s 2,415 precincts reporting, McWherter had 312,455 votes, or 55%, while Dunn had 252,206 votes, or 45%.
“I wish him well,” said Dunn, 59, whose gubernatorial term ended in 1975.
All Tennessee congressional incumbents, six Democrats and three Republicans, won reelection.
In the hottest race, four-term Democratic Rep. William H. Boner, under investigation by a House ethics committee, defeated Republican Terry Holcomb in the 5th District, and six-term Democrat Marilyn L. Lloyd defeated political unknown James L. Golden in the 3rd District.
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