NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Gov. Bill Haslam’s first four years in office included a struggle to exert authority over fellow Republicans in the Legislature on issues ranging from Common Core education standards to Medicaid expansion.

But looking back on his first term after his landslide re-election on Tuesday, the Republican governor said there was no case in which he would say he took the “wrong approach.”

Haslam defeated Democrat Charlie Brown, who didn’t have any organized campaign structure and raised no money, by a margin of 70 percent to 23 percent, becoming the first candidate to win all 95 counties since then-Gov. Phil Bredesen’s re-election in 2006.

Haslam pledged after the vote to be “firm and strong” on maintaining education standards that have come under fire from the tea party-leaning lawmakers.

By ERIK SCHELZIG

COVER PHOTO Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, center, offers to pick up his grandson, Will, after Haslam spoke to supporters in Nashville, Tenn., after being re-elected Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. (Mark Humphrey, AP / AP)