Tennessee: Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander is in very solid shape heading into the general election. Although Tea Party activists have long wanted to give Alexander a serious primary, Tea Party groups didn’t get involved until very late in the contest. It was too late to make a difference for their candidate, state Rep. Joe Carr. It also helped the incumbent that there were seven other candidates in the race. Alexander won the primary with 50 percent of the vote. He will face Democratic attorney Gordon Ball in the general election. The state has been trending Republican, and President Obama took just 40 percent of the vote in 2012. The race is in the Solid Republican column.