Haslam claims Tennessee's Republican gubernatorial nomination

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam withstood relentless attacks from his rivals to claim Tennessee’s Republican gubernatorial nomination Thursday.

Haslam had the dominant fundraising advantage in the race against U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp and state Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey, pouring at least $1.5 million of his own money into the campaign during the closing weeks.

With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Haslam had 327,375 votes, or 48 percent, to Wamp’s 199,388 votes, or 29 percent. Ramsey had 149,844 votes, or 22 percent.

Ramsey fared far better in portions of his native East Tennessee, easily winning his home county of Sullivan and Johnson County, which is part of his state Senate district.

He won Sullivan County by more than a 2-to-1 margin, garnering 59.7 percent of the votes cast, compared to 28 percent for Haslam and almost 12 percent for Wamp.

The Blountville native received 11,186 unofficial votes in Sullivan County, compared to 5,244 for Haslam and 2,205 for Wamp.

Ramsey won Johnson County by a 3-to-1 margin and easily won in Unicoi.

Haslam, the Knoxville mayor, was the top vote-getter in Carter, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins and Washington counties.

Attempts to contact Ramsey late Thursday were unsuccessful.

Ramsey, who operates an auction and real estate business in Blountville, remains speaker of the Senate and lieutenant governor – posts he was first elected to in 2007.

Haslam will face Democrat Mike McWherter, son of former Gov. Ned McWherter, in the November general election. Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen is term limited.

Several hundred supporters gathered at a downtown Nashville hotel to celebrate Haslam’s victory.

In a 5-minute victory speech, Haslam said he welcomes those who voted for his opponents to join him for the general election campaign. “We’d love to have you with us for the home stretch,” he said.

Wamp said in his concession speech at a Chattanooga hotel that he was unable to deflect voter anger at Congress.

“There’s a lot of anxiety and anger about what’s happened in Washington, D.C., and I couldn’t control that,” Wamp said. “A lot of that rubbed off on me, whether I was responsible for it or not.”

Country music star John Rich, a mainstay on the campaign trail with Wamp, did not appear at the concession speech.

“He’s kind of upset right now, he and I both thought I was going to win,” Wamp said. “But the best candidate doesn’t always win.”

Ramsey told supporters that he would work with Haslam to “advance our conservative fiscal policies here in Tennessee.”

During the campaign, Haslam’s rivals criticized him for refusing to divulge his annual earnings from family-founded Pilot Corp., a national chain of truck stops that is among the country’s largest privately held companies.

Wamp aired television ads targeting Haslam, 51, as a “billionaire oil man,” and Haslam responded with ads of his own pointing out that Wamp violated a promise to limit his terms in Congress and to forgo contributions from political action committees.

Ramsey, meanwhile, ran an ad attacking both Haslam and Wamp.

Haslam, in his victory speech, spoke about the toll that political attacks can take.

“Races get very intense, and sometimes to be honest with you, it’s harder on the families than it is even on the candidate,” he said.

Meredith Boatwright, 43, who voted for Haslam in Knoxville on Thursday, said she was unmoved by the criticism of the candidate’s ties to Pilot.

“I always buy gas from Pilot,” she said. “I’ve never heard anyone say a bad thing about him no matter what the other candidates say.”

In the closing days of the race, Wamp ratcheted up claims that Haslam would be likely to consider a state income tax to help cure the state’s financial woes, a charge Haslam vehemently denies.

Wamp, 52, drew national attention in July for suggesting in an interview with the National Journal’s Hotline On Call that states could be “forced to consider separation from this government” if voters don’t make significant changes at the ballot box in 2010 and 2012.

Wamp quickly backed off those comments and pledged that Tennessee would remain “a proud partner as a member of the United Sates of America” if he is elected governor.

Ramsey, 54, caused an uproar just days later when a national Muslim rights group drew attention to a YouTube video of him positing that Islam might be more of a cult than a religion. Ramsey later clarified that he meant militant fringe groups, rather than the religion as a whole.

Ramsey had hoped for significant support among tea party enthusiasts and from a large number of the state’s nearly 300,000 handgun carry permit holders.