1980Final results
1980 election for Tennessee Senate District 16
Tennessee State Senate · Tennessee
John R. Rucker (D) won with 72.0% of the vote, defeating Thomas Lee Smith (R) by 44.0 points.
John R. RuckerDemocrat · winner · incumbent
72.0%25,506
Thomas Lee SmithRepublican
28.0%9,919
35,425 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 1980
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET