1978Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1978 election for Tennessee Senate District 5
Tennessee State Senate · Tennessee
James Elkins (R) won with 60.3% of the vote, defeating Ray Baird (D) by 20.6 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
James ElkinsRepublican · winner
60.3%24,953
Ray BairdDemocrat · incumbent
39.7%16,437
41,390 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