1978Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1978 election for Tennessee Senate District 23
Tennessee State Senate · Tennessee
Johnny Crow (R) won with 51.4% of the vote, defeating James E. Sullivan (D) by 2.8 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Johnny CrowRepublican · winner
51.4%21,614
James E. SullivanDemocrat · incumbent
48.6%20,444
42,058 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 1978
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET