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The following is a list of runners-up in Tennessee gubernatorial elections since 1870. This refers to general elections (not primaries), and only the first runner-up is listed. Not all of these candidates may meet notability (some may have been token candidates), so please do not create one-sentence stubs that mention only that the person ran for governor.

• 1870 William H. Wisener R (lost to John C. Brown)
• 1872 Alfred A. Freeman R (lost to Brown)
• 1874 Horace Maynard R (lost to James D. Porter, Jr.)
• 1876 Dorsey B. Thomas I (lost to Porter)
• 1878 Eli Wight R (lost to Albert S. Marks) (Mayor of Chattanooga)
• 1880 John Wright D (lost to Alvin Hawkins)
• 1882 Hawkins (lost to William B. Bate)
• 1884 Frank T. Reid R (lost to Bate) (Nashville judge)
• 1886 Alfred A. Taylor R (lost to Robert Love Taylor)
• 1888 Samuel Hawkins R (lost to Taylor)
• 1890 Lewis Baxter R (lost to John P. Buchanan) (son of John Baxter)
• 1892 George Winstead R (lost to Peter Turney)
• 1894 Henry Clay Evans R (lost to Turney)
• 1896 George Tillman R (lost to Robert Love Taylor)
• 1898 James Alexander Fowler R (lost to Benton McMillin)
• 1900 John E. McCall R (lost to McMillin)
• 1902 H. Tyler Campbell R (lost to James B. Frazier)
• 1904 Jesse Littleton R (lost to Frazier) (Mayor of Winchester)
• 1906 Henry Clay Evans R (lost to Malcolm R. Patterson)
• 1908 George Tillman R (lost to Patterson)
• 1910 Robert Love Taylor D (lost to Ben W. Hooper)
• 1912 Benton McMillin D (lost to Hooper)
• 1914 Hooper R (lost to Thomas Clarke Rye)
• 1916 John W. Overall R (lost to Rye) (U.S. marshal from Liberty)
• 1918 Hugh B. Lindsay R (lost to Albert H. Roberts)
• 1920 Roberts D (lost to Alfred A. Taylor)
• 1922 Taylor R (lost to Austin Peay)
• 1924 Thomas Peck R (lost to Peay)
• 1926 Walter White R (lost to Peay)
• 1928 Raleigh Hopkins R (lost to Henry Hollis Horton)
• 1930 C. Arthur Bruce R (lost to Horton) (Memphis businessman)
• 1932 John E. McCall R (lost to Hill McAlister) (not the 1900 candidate)
• 1934 Lewis S. Pope D-Fusion (lost to McAlister)
• 1936 Pat Thach R (lost to Gordon Browning)
• 1938 Howard Baker, Sr. R (lost to Prentice Cooper)
• 1940 C. Arthur Bruce R (lost to Cooper)
• 1942 C.N. Frazier R (lost to Cooper)
• 1944 John Wesley Kilgo R (lost to Jim Nance McCord) (attorney from Greeneville)
• 1946 W.O. Lowe R (lost to McCord)
• 1948 Roy Acuff R (lost to Gordon Browning)
• 1950 John Randolph Neal, Jr. R (lost to Browning)
• 1952 Beecher Witt R (lost to Frank G. Clement) (Madisonville attorney)
• 1954 John Randolph Neal, Jr., R (lost to Clement)
• 1958 Jim Nance McCord I (lost to Buford Ellington)
• 1962 Hubert Patty R (lost to Clement)
• 1966 H.L. Crowder I (lost to Ellington)
• 1970 John Jay Hooker D (lost to Winfield Dunn)
• 1974 Lamar Alexander R (lost to Ray Blanton)
• 1978 Jake Butcher D (lost to Alexander)
• 1982 Randy Tyree D (lost to Alexander)
• 1986 Dunn R (lost to Ned McWherter)
• 1990 Dwight Henry (lost to McWherter)
• 1994 Phil Bredesen D (lost to Don Sundquist)
• 1998 Hooker D (lost to Sundquist)
• 2002 Van Hilleary R (lost to Bredesen)
• 2006 Jim Bryson R (lost to Bredesen)
• 2010 Mike McWherter D (lost to Bill Haslam)