2012 Tennessee Senate election

The 2012 Tennessee State Senate election was held on November 6, 2012, to elect 16 of the 33 seats for the Tennessee's State Senate. The elections coincided with the Presidential, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and State House elections. The primary elections were held on August 2, 2012.

Republicans gained 6 seats, getting a supermajority in the Senate chamber.

Retirements
Five incumbents (4 Democrats and 1 Republican) did not run for re-election in 2012. Those incumbents are:

Democrats

 * 1) District 10: Andy Berke retired to run for mayor of Chattanooga in 2013.
 * 2) District 16: Eric Stewart retired to run for Tennessee's 4th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
 * 3) District 20: Joe M. Haynes retired.
 * 4) District 24: Roy Herron retired.

Republicans

 * 1) District 18: Kerry Roberts retired.

Democrats

 * 1) District 30: Beverly Marrero lost renomination to Jim Kyle.

Democrats

 * 1) District 22: Tim Barnes lost to Mark Green

Closest races
Three races were decided by a margin of under 10%:

General election
Results by county