2002 United States Senate elections
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Class II (34 of the 100) seats in the United States Senate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ind. Includes one independent (VT) who caucused with the Democrats. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 on November 5, 2002.
The Democrats had originally hoped to do well, since the economy just came out of a recession and unemployment kept rising, and the incumbent party historically loses seats in midterm elections, particularly when economic news is bad. In addition, 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 Paul Wellstone's death. This gave Republicans a key advantage, as the focus of the campaign was on foreign, rather than domestic, issues.
Results summary
Template:American politics/party colors/Republican/rowTemplate:American politics/party colors/Democratic/rowTemplate:American politics/party colors/Independent/rowTemplate:American politics/party colors/Libertarian/rowTemplate:American politics/party colors/Green/row| Parties | Breakdown | Total Seats | Popular Vote | Total Candidates | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. Even though Cleland was a combat veteran, Chambliss won the support of the VFW.
- 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 have been a factor when Sununu lost to Shaheen in their 2008 rematch.
Complete list of contests
| State | Incumbent | Party | Result | Other candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Jeff Sessions | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 58.6% | Susan Parker (Democratic) 39.8% Jeff Allen (Libertarian) 1.5% |
| Alaska | Ted Stevens | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 78% | Frank J. Vondersaar (Democratic) 11% Jim Sykes (Green) 8% Jim Dore (AI) 3% Leonard Karpinski (Libertarian) 1% |
| Arkansas | Tim Hutchinson | Republican | Incumbent lost re-election Democratic gain, 46.1% |
Mark Pryor (Democratic) 53.9% |
| Colorado | Wayne Allard | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 50.7% | Tom Strickland (Democratic) 45.8% Douglas “Dayhorse” Campbell (Constitution) 1.5% Rick Stanley (Libertarian) 1.5% John Heckman (Concerns of People) 0.5% |
| Delaware | Joe Biden | Democratic | Incumbent 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 | Incumbent lost re-election Republican gain, 45.9% |
Saxby Chambliss (Republican) 52.7% Claude Thomas (Libertarian) 1.4% |
| Idaho | Larry Craig | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 65% | Alan Blinken (Democratic) 33% Donovan Bramwell (Libertarian) 2% |
| Illinois | Richard Durbin | Democratic | Incumbent re-elected, 60.3% | Jim Durkin (Republican) 38% Steven Burgauer (Libertarian) 1.6% |
| Iowa | Tom Harkin | Democratic | Incumbent re-elected, 54.2% | Greg Ganske (Republican) 43.8% Tim Harthan (Green) 1.1% Richard J. Moore (Libertarian) 0.9% |
| Kansas | Pat Roberts | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 82.5% | Steven A. Rosile (Libertarian) 9.1% George Cook (Reform) 8.4% |
| Kentucky | Mitch McConnell | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 64.7% | Lois Combs Weinberg (Democratic) 35.3% |
| Louisiana | Mary Landrieu | Democratic | Incumbent re-elected in runoff, 51.7% | Suzanne Haik Terrell (Republican) 48.3% |
| Maine | Susan Collins | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 58.4% | Chellie Pingree (Democratic) 41.6% |
| Massachusetts | John Kerry | Democratic | Incumbent re-elected, 72.3% | Michael E. Cloud (Libertarian) 16.6% Blank/Scattering 9.6% Randall Forsberg, Write-in 1.1% Other 0.3% |
| Michigan | Carl Levin | Democratic | Incumbent 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 | Incumbent died Republican gain |
Norm Coleman (Republican) 49.5% Walter Mondale (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) 47.3% Jim Moore (Independence) 2% Paul Wellstone (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) 0.5% Ray Tricomo (Green) 0.4% Miro Drago Kovatchevich (Constitution) 0.1% |
| Mississippi | Thad Cochran | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 85.6% | Shawn O'Hara (Reform) 15.4% |
| Missouri (Class 1: SpecialA) |
Jean Carnahan | Democratic | Incumbent appointee lost election to full term Republican gain, 48.7% |
Jim Talent (Republican) 49.8% Tamara A. Millay (Libertarian) 1% Daniel Romano (Green) 0.6% |
| Montana | Max Baucus | Democratic | Incumbent re-elected, 62.7% | Mike Taylor (Republican) 31.7% Stan Jones (Libertarian) 3.2% Bob Kelleher (Green) 2.3% |
| Nebraska | Chuck Hagel | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 82.8% | Charlie A. Matulka (Democratic) 14.6% John J. Graziano (Libertarian) 1.5% Phil Chase (Independent) 1.1% |
| New Hampshire | Bob Smith | Republican | Incumbent lost renomination Republican hold |
John E. Sununu (Republican) 50.8% Jeanne Shaheen (Democratic) 46.4% Ken Blevens (Libertarian) 2.2% |
| New Jersey | Robert Torricelli | Democratic | Incumbent retired Democratic hold |
Frank Lautenberg (Democratic) 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 | Incumbent re-elected, 65% | Gloria Tristani (Democratic) 35% |
| North Carolina | Jesse Helms | Republican | Incumbent retired Republican hold |
Elizabeth Dole (Republican) 53.6% Erskine Bowles (Democratic) 45% Sean Haugh (Libertarian) 1.5% |
| Oklahoma | Jim Inhofe | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 57.3% | David Walters (Democratic) 36.3% James Germalic (Independent) 6.4% |
| Oregon | Gordon Smith | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 56.2% | Bill Bradbury (Democratic) 39.6% Dan Fitzgerald (Libertarian) 2.4% Lon Mabon (Constitution) 1.7% |
| Rhode Island | Jack Reed | Democratic | Incumbent re-elected, 78.4% | Robert Tingle (Republican) 21.6% |
| South Carolina | Strom Thurmond | Republican | Incumbent retired Republican hold |
Lindsey Graham (Republican) 54.4% Alex Sanders (Democratic) 44.2% Ted Adams (Constitution) 0.8% Victor Kocher (Libertarian) 0.6% |
| South Dakota | Tim Johnson | Democratic | Incumbent re-elected, 49.6% | John Thune (Republican) 49.5% Kurt Evans (Libertarian) 0.9% |
| Tennessee | Fred Thompson | Republican | Incumbent retired Republican hold |
Lamar Alexander (Republican) 54% Bob Clement (Democratic) 44% |
| Texas | Phil Gramm | Republican | Incumbent retired Republican hold |
John Cornyn (Republican) 55.3% Ron Kirk (Democratic) 43.3% Scott Jameson (Libertarian) 0.8% Roy H. Williams (Green) 0.6% |
| Virginia | John Warner | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 82.6% | Nancy Spannaus (Independent) 9.7% Jacob G. Hornberger (Independent) 7.1% |
| West Virginia | Jay Rockefeller | Democratic | Incumbent re-elected, 63.1% | Jay Wolfe (Republican) 36.9% |
| Wyoming | Mike Enzi | Republican | Incumbent re-elected, 73% | Joyce Jansa Corcoran (Democratic) 27% |
A Special election due to death of Mel Carnahan (D).
Senate composition before and after elections
| 107th Congress Senate Composition | 108th Congress Senate Composition | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Note:
- Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) died shortly before the 2002 election. On November 4, Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura appointed Dean Barkley of the Minnesota Independence Party to serve the remaining few months of Wellstone's term.
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
External links
- Clerk of the House of Representatives - Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 2002