United States Senate elections, 2002

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Republican hold Republican pickup Democratic hold Democratic pickup

The 2002 United States Senate election featured a series of fiercely-contested elections that resulted in a victory for the Republican Party, which gained two seats and thus a narrow majority from the Democratic Party in the United States Senate. Senators who were elected in 1996, known as Senate Class 2, were seeking reelection or retiring. The election was held November 5, 2002. The Democrats had originally hoped to do well, as four veteran Republicans and no Democrats had retired this year, and open seats are always viewed as the most competitive. However, the open seats were all in the South, and the Republicans found fairly strong candidates who were able to hold all four. Together with gains made in the House of Representatives, it was one of the few mid-term elections in the last one hundred years in which the party in control of the White House gained Congressional seats (the others were 1902, 1934, and 1998). Even worse for the Democrats, the elections were held just a little under fourteen months after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Thus the elections were heavily overshadowed by the war on terror, the impending war with Iraq, and President George W. Bush's high approval ratings. This gave Republicans a key advantage, as the focus of the campaign was on foreign, rather than domestic, issues.

1 Results summary
2 Notable races
3 Senate contests in 2002
4 Senate composition before and after elections
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

Results summary

**Summary of the 2002 United States Senate election results**
Parties		Breakdown			Total Seats			Popular Vote		Total Candidates
Parties		Up	Elected	Not Up	2000	2002	+/-	Vote	%	General¹
	Republican Party	20	22	29	49	51	+2	21,428,784	51.312%	37
	Democratic Party	14	12	36	50	48	-2	18,665,605	44.695%	32
	Independent	-	-	1	1	1	0	405,982	0.972%	9
	Libertarian Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	755,872	1.810%	20
	Constitution Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	32,185	0.077%	3
	Independence Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	46,135	0.110%	2
	Green Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	129,475	0.310%	8
	Reform Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	175,107	0.419%	3
	Socialist Workers Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	2,702	0.006%	1
	Other parties	-	-	-	-	-	-	75,339	0.180%	10
	Write-in	-	-	-	-	-	-	44,576	0.107%	-
Total		34	34	66	100	100	-	41,761,762	100.0%	125
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

¹ Includes candidates from Louisiana's General Election, not run-off. Totals do not include participating voters who declined to cast a vote for U.S. Senate.

Notable races

Democratic gains

Arkansas: Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-AR), who was personally unpopular, perhaps due to divorcing his wife and marrying a young staffer, was defeated by Democratic challenger Mark Pryor, Arkansas Attorney General and the son of a popular former Senator and Governor.

Republican gains

Georgia: Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA), a Vietnam War veteran and triple amputee, was defeated by Representative Saxby Chambliss in a tough campaign marked by attacks on Cleland's stance on a Department of Homeland Security. Local Georgia issues may also have played a role in the campaign, with Republicans also taking the governorship over unhappiness with the Georgia state flag.
Missouri: Sen. Jean Carnahan (D-MO) had been appointed to the Senate after her husband, Mel Carnahan, had narrowly won the 2000 election posthumously. How much Mel Carnahan's victory had been due to sympathy following his death and/or high disapproval of his opponent, John Ashcroft, was unclear, but his wife was unable to hold the seat, losing narrowly to former Congressman Jim Talent.
Minnesota: Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), in the middle of a tough fight against former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman, died in a plane crash less than two weeks before the election. Most observers expected that this would lead to a sympathy boost for his replacement, liberal stalwart and former Vice President Walter Mondale, but the Democrats received negative press after Wellstone's funeral was marked by political speeches, and Coleman won a close race.

Democratic holds

South Dakota: The Democratic Party also invested heavily in South Dakota to keep Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) in office by 500 votes over Republican challenger John Thune, who accused Johnson and Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) of pushing liberal policies that were different from the promises they made to South Dakota voters. Thune's strategy would work successfully when he defeated Daschle himself in 2004.
New Jersey: Democratic incumbent Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) was dogged by scandal, and eventually quit the race so that the party could replace him with a better candidate, retired Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), who went on to win. Republicans challenged this late replacement of a weak candidate, but were not successful in the courts.
Louisiana: Republicans ran several candidates at once against incumbent Mary Landrieu (D-LA), hoping to push her vote below 50% and force a runoff in December (according to Louisiana law). They did force a runoff, but Republican Suzanne Haik Terrell narrowly lost the runoff.

Republican holds

New Hampshire: Incumbent Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) had previously quit and rejoined the Republican party in a dispute over his candidacy in the 2000 presidential election, and Republican leaders pushed the candidacy of Congressman John E. Sununu. He defeated Smith in the primary and went on to defeat Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, the retiring governor, in the general election. In this Senate race, local Republican officials violated election laws by trying to jam the phones of the Democrat's "Get Out The Vote" efforts; the officials went to prison in a case that reverberated into 2006 and may affect Sununu's 2008 re-election prospects.

Senate contests in 2002

Winning candidate in bold
Republican pickups in Red
Democratic pickup in Blue
Retiring Senator in Gray

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	Jeff Sessions	Republican	Re-elected, 58.6%	Susan Parker (Democrat) 39.8% Jeff Allen (Libertarian) 1.5%
Alaska	Ted Stevens	Republican	Re-elected, 78%	Frank J. Vondersaar (Democrat) 11% Jim Sykes (Green) 8% Jim Dore (AI) 3% Leonard Karpinski (Libertarian) 1%
Arkansas	Tim Hutchinson	Republican	Defeated, 46.1%	Mark Pryor (Democrat) 53.9%
Colorado	Wayne Allard	Republican	Re-elected, 50.7%	Tom Strickland (Democrat) 45.8% Douglas “Dayhorse” Campbell (Constitution) 1.5% Rick Stanley (Libertarian) 1.5% John Heckman (Concerns of People) 0.5%
Delaware	Joe Biden	Democratic	Re-elected, 58.2%	Raymond J. Clatworthy (Republican) 40.8% Maurice Barros (IPD) 0.4% Raymond T. Buranello (Libertarian) 0.4% Robert E. Mattson (Natural Law) 0.2%
Georgia	Max Cleland	Democratic	Defeated, 45.9%	Saxby Chambliss (Republican) 52.7% Claude Thomas (Libertarian) 1.4%
Idaho	Larry Craig	Republican	Re-elected, 65%	Alan Blinken (Democrat) 33% Donovan Bramwell (Libertarian) 2%
Illinois	Richard Durbin	Democratic	Re-elected, 60.3%	Jim Durkin (Republican) 38% Steven Burgauer (Libertarian) 1.6%
Iowa	Tom Harkin	Democratic	Re-elected, 54.2%	Greg Ganske (Republican) 43.8% Tim Harthan (Green) 1.1% Richard J. Moore (Libertarian) 0.9%
Kansas	Pat Roberts	Republican	Re-elected, 82.5%	Steven A. Rosile (Libertarian) 9.1% George Cook (Reform) 8.4%
Kentucky	Mitch McConnell	Republican	Re-elected, 64.7%	Lois Combs Weinberg (Democrat) 35.3%
Louisiana	Mary Landrieu	Democratic	Re-elected in runoff, 51.7%	Suzanne Haik Terrell (Republican) 48.3%
Maine	Susan Collins	Republican	Re-elected, 58.4%	Chellie Pingree (Democrat) 41.6%
Massachusetts	John Kerry	Democratic	Re-elected, 80%	Michael E. Cloud (Libertarian) 18.4%
Michigan	Carl Levin	Democratic	Re-elected, 60.6%	Andrew Raczkowski (Republican) 37.9% Eric Borregard (Green) 0.8% John S. Mangopoulos (Reform) 0.4% Doug Dern (Natural Law) 0.3%
Minnesota	Paul Wellstone	Democratic-Farmer-Labor	Deceased: Republican victory	Norm Coleman (Republican) 49.5% Walter Mondale (DFL) 47.3% Jim Moore (Independence) 2% Paul Wellstone (DFL) 0.5% Ray Tricomo (Green) 0.4% Miro Drago Kovatchevich (Constitution) 0.1%
Mississippi	Thad Cochran	Republican	Re-elected, 85.6%	Shawn O'Hara (Reform) 15.4%
Missouri¹	Jean Carnahan	Democratic	Defeated, 48.7%	Jim Talent (Republican) 49.8% Tamara A. Millay (Libertarian) 1% Daniel Romano (Green) 0.6%
Montana	Max Baucus	Democrat	Re-elected, 62.7%	Mike Taylor (Republican) 31.7% Stan Jones (Libertarian) 3.2% Bob Kelleher (Green) 2.3%
Nebraska	Chuck Hagel	Republican	Re-elected, 82.8%	Charlie A. Matulka (Democrat) 14.6% John J. Graziano (Libertarian) 1.5% Phil Chase (Independent) 1.1%
New Hampshire	Bob Smith	Republican	Defeated in primary: Republican victory	John E. Sununu (Republican) 50.8% Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat) 46.4% Ken Blevens (Libertarian) 2.2%
New Jersey	Robert Torricelli	Democratic	Withdrew: Democratic victory	Frank Lautenberg (Democrat) 53.9% Doug Forrester (Republican) 44% Ted Glick (Green) 1.2% Elizabeth Macron (Libertarian) 0.6% Norman E. Wahner (NJ Conservative) 0.3% Gregory Pason (Socialist) 0.1%
New Mexico	Pete Domenici	Republican	Re-elected, 65%	Gloria Tristani (Democrat) 35%
North Carolina	Jesse Helms	Republican	Retired: Republican victory	Elizabeth Dole (Republican) 53.6% Erskine Bowles (Democrat) 45% Sean Haugh (Libertarian) 1.5%
Oklahoma	Jim Inhofe	Republican	Re-elected, 57.3%	David Walters (Democrat) 36.3% James Germalic (Independent) 6.4%
Oregon	Gordon Smith	Republican	Re-elected, 56.2%	Bill Bradbury (Democrat) 39.6% Dan Fitzgerald (Libertarian) 2.4% Lon Mabon (Constitution) 1.7%
Rhode Island	Jack Reed	Democratic	Re-elected, 78.4%	Robert G. Tingle (Republican) 21.6%
South Carolina	Strom Thurmond	Republican	Retired: Republican victory	Lindsey Graham (Republican) 54.4% Alex Sanders (Democrat) 44.2% Ted Adams (Constitution) 0.8% Victor Kocher (Libertarian) 0.6%
South Dakota	Tim Johnson	Democratic	Re-elected, 49.6%	John Thune (Republican) 49.5% Kurt Evans (Libertarian) 0.9%
Tennessee	Fred Thompson	Republican	Retired: Republican victory	Lamar Alexander (Republican) 54% Bob Clement (Democrat) 44%
Texas	Phil Gramm	Republican	Retired: Republican victory	John Cornyn (Republican) 55.3% Ron Kirk (Democrat) 43.3% Scott Jameson (Libertarian) 0.8% Roy H. Williams (Green) 0.6%
Virginia	John Warner	Republican	Re-elected, 82.6%	Nancy Spannaus (Independent) 9.7% Jacob G. Hornberger (libertarian) 7.1%
West Virginia	Jay Rockefeller	Democratic	Re-elected, 63.1%	Jay Wolfe (Republican) 36.9%
Wyoming	Mike Enzi	Republican	Re-elected, 73%	Joyce Jansa Corcoran (Democrat) 27%

¹ special election due to death of Mel Carnahan; Talent was defeated for reelection in 2006.

Senate composition before and after elections

107th Congress Senate Composition

108th Congress Senate Composition

Color Key:

Republicans

Independent

Democrats

References

Robert M. Sanders; "How Environmentally-Friendly Candidates Fared in the Congressional Elections of 2002: A Time of Green Anxiety?" International Social Science Review, Vol. 79, 2004