1970Flipped from RepublicanFinal results
1970 election for Tennessee House of Representatives: Hamilton 5
Tennessee House of Representatives · Tennessee
Laban Defriese (D) won with 39.4% of the vote, defeating James McKelvey (R) by 1.8 points, flipping a seat Republicans held.
Laban DefrieseDemocrat · winner
39.4%3,300
James McKelveyRepublican
37.5%3,145
C. AshleyIndependent
22.1%1,852
Walter FletcherIndependent
1.0%86
8,383 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1970
The seat's recent races
Source: Past results: 99chambers results archive (MEDSL, Klarner, state election offices)
The candidates
Laban Defriese (D)James McKelvey (R)C. Ashley (I)
Also on the ballot: Walter Fletcher (Independent), 1.0%