Corker is no conservative and no poplarist.
He is a RINO, pure and simple.
Corker was
Tennessee is not a conservative state. Tennessee is a Republican state. Theestablishment Republicans aways defeat or do in the conservative Republican by electoral chicanery
In East Tennessee, the conservative Davis was elected to the congress out of a field including establishment Republicans. Two years later, the establishment Dr Phil Roe having no other republican opposition handily defeated the conservative Davis.
That is, Tennessee is Republican but not conservative.