Mark Clayton
Mark Clayton was aDemocratic candidate forGovernor of Tennessee in the2014 elections.[1]
Clayton was also a 2012Democratic candidate who sought election to theU.S. Senate fromTennessee. He lost in the general election.[2]
An October 2012 article inThe Daily named Clayton one of the 20 worst candidates in 2012.[3]
Elections
2014
Clayton ran forelection to the office ofGovernor of Tennessee as aDemocrat but was disqualified by the state Democratic Party after a committee found that he was not abona fide Democrat.[4]
2012
Clayton ran in the2012 election for theU.S. Senate, representingTennessee. He defeatedLarry Crim,Gary Davis,Dave Hancock,Ashley King,Park Overall, andT.K. Owens in the August 2 Democratic primary. He faced incumbentBob Corker (R),Shaun Crowell (L),David Gatchell (I),James Higdon (I),Michel Long (I), andTroy Scoggin (I) in the general election on November 6, 2012.[5][6] Corker won.[2]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Bob CorkerIncumbent | 64.9% | 1,506,443 | |
| Democratic | Mark E. Clayton | 30.4% | 705,882 | |
| Constitution | Kermit Steck | 0.8% | 18,620 | |
| Green | Martin Pleasant | 1.7% | 38,472 | |
| Libertarian | Shaun E. Crowell | 0.9% | 20,936 | |
| Independent | David Gatchell | 0.3% | 6,523 | |
| Independent | Michael Joseph Long | 0.3% | 8,085 | |
| Independent | Troy Stephen Scoggin | 0.3% | 8,080 | |
| Total Votes | 2,320,189 | |||
| Source:Tennessee Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Controversy with the Democratic Party
The day after Clayton won the 2012 Democratic nomination for Senate, theTennessee Democratic Party disavowed him as their candidate, claiming he was part of an anti-gay hate group. Though Clayton won the primary with a sizable margin, the party said it would do nothing to help further his candidacy, and urged voters to vote for a write-in candidate in November. "The only time that Clayton has voted in a Democratic primary was when he was voting for himself," read a press release. "Many Democrats in Tennessee knew nothing about any of the candidates in the race, so they voted for the person at the top of the ticket. Unfortunately, none of the other Democratic candidates were able to run the race needed to gain statewide visibility or support."Clayton does occasional work for the pro-life, pro-marriage group Public Advocate of the United States.[7]
Democratic candidateLarry Crim later demanded a new primary based on the argument that Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Chip Forrester failed in his duties as party chairman to properly screen the primary candidates. Crim also argued that since his name was next to Clayton's alphabetically the nomination belonged to him. The state's elections coordinator Mark Goins responded to the inquiry saying that Forrester had seven days after the April 5 qualifying deadline to question Clayton's Democratic credentials. After that, officials had no legal grounds to block his candidacy.[8]
Goins subsequently said it was too late to hold another primary because the Democratic Party had missed the deadline for sending military ballots for the general election.[9]
Campaign finance summary
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Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Mark + Clayton + Tennessee + Governor"
- All stories may not be relevant to this legislator due to the nature of the search engine.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑Tennessee Secretary of State, "Petitions Issued by State Election Commission Office," January 23, 2014
- ↑2.02.1CNN "Tennessee Senate Race - 2012 Election Center"
- ↑The Daily, "The worst candidates of 2012," accessed October 29, 2012
- ↑Times Free Press, "Tennessee Democrats act to keep anti-gay activist out of governor race," April 6th, 2014
- ↑Tennessee Secretary of State, "2012 Unofficial Filings," April 5, 2012
- ↑Associate Press primary results
- ↑The Tennessean, "Democratic Party disavows Senate nominee" accessed August 4, 2012
- ↑The Tennessean, "Democrats missed chance to block Mark Clayton, Tennessee official says" accessed August 8, 2012
- ↑The Tennessean, "TN Democrats didn't try to block Mark Clayton's candidacy," August 8, 2012
