The modern Tennessee Republican Party of today traces its roots to the middle of the 19th Century, and the fight for liberty and freedom.

The Tennessee Historical Society, publisher of the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture, describes the early years:

Democratic Party dominance in the South has often been assumed to be the norm, from the days of Jefferson and Jackson to recent years, but that assumption is mistaken. The Democrats had difficulty even winning elections during the Age of Jackson, and when Columbia resident James K. Polk won the presidency in the 1844 election, he failed to carry the vote of Tennessee. (Ironically, the same was true in the 2000 election for Albert Gore Jr., who also failed to his carry his native state.) The Whig Party and platform significantly influenced the state’s development in the mid-nineteenth century, and many members of that party, like Samuel Arnell of Maury County and Emerson Etheridge of Weakley County, were Unionists during the Civil War and became founding members of the Republican Party in the Reconstruction period. Congressional districts in East Tennessee consistently elected Republican representatives throughout the twentieth century, creating the political foundation for the party’s reemergence during the 1960s as a statewide force led by Howard Baker Jr. of Scott County.

The modern Tennessee Republican Party’s reemergence as a statewide force became apparent to all in 1970 when Republican Winfield Dunn defeated Democrat John J. Hooker to became the first Republican to be elected governor of Tennessee in a half-century. Since that historic election, the Tennessee Republican Party has continued its rise, and the party currently holds a majority of seats in the state legislature and both U.S. Senate seats.

As the GOP edged closer to winning a majority in the state legislature, the majority Democrats used redistricting in 1991 and again in 2001 to gerrymander districts in an effort to create fewer districts hospitable to Republican candidates, but in 2008 the Tennessee GOP overcame such obstacles and won a majority of seats in both the state House and the state Senate for the first time since the elections of 1868.

Always strong in East Tennessee, the Republican Party is increasingly making inroads into formerly Democrat-leaning “swing” districts – in the 2008 election, the GOP won its majority by virtually “running the table” on open-seat races involving such seats formerly held by Democrats.

A prime example is House District 40, composed of Smith, Macon and Dekalb counties about an hour east of Nashville, which was represented by conservative Democrat Frank Buck from 1973 until his retirement at the end of 2008. A conservative Democrat who often challenged the corrupt Democrat power structure in the state legislature, Buck was very much in sync with his district, but increasingly out of step with the national Democrat Party as it moved increasingly to the left in recent years.  Buck’s successor, Republican Terri Lynn Weaver, won election easily.

In presidential contests, Tennessee leans Republican, supporting Ronald Reagan twice (1980, 1984), George Bush in 1988, George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, and John McCain in 2008.