2002 United States Senate election in South Dakota

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2002 United States Senate election in South Dakota
Flag of South Dakota.svg
  1996 November 5, 2002 2008  
  Tim Johnson official portrait, 2009.jpg John Thune official photo.jpg
Nominee Tim Johnson John Thune
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote167,481166,957
Percentage49.62%49.47%

2002 United States Senate election in South Dakota results map by county.svg
County results
Johnson:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Thune:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

U.S. senator before election

Tim Johnson
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Tim Johnson
Democratic

The 2002 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Johnson narrowly won re-election to a second term over Republican John Thune by a margin of 524 votes, or 0.15%. This made the election the closest race of the 2002 Senate election cycle.

Contents

Thune later won South Dakota's other U.S. Senate seat in 2004, 2010, 2016, and 2022.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary results [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Tim Johnson (incumbent) 65,438 94.84%
Democratic Herman Eilers3,5585.16%
Total votes68,996 100.00%

General election

Candidates

Campaign

Thune ran against Tim Johnson, who narrowly won his first senate election in 1996. Thune launched a television advertising campaign mentioning al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, contending that both are seeking nuclear weapons and that this country needs a missile defense system, something Johnson voted against 29 times and that Thune supports. The incumbent attacked Thune for politicizing national security. [2] President George W. Bush campaigned for Thune in late October. [3] More than $20 million was spent in the election. Both candidates had raised over $5 million each. [4]

Debates

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
Sabato's Crystal Ball [5] Lean DNovember 4, 2002

Results

Johnson narrowly prevailed over Thune by a mere 524 votes. Despite the extremely close results, Thune did not contest the results and conceded defeat on the late afternoon of November 9. Johnson's narrow victory may be attributed to his strong support in Oglala Lakota County, and to Thune also underperforming in typically Republican areas. Johnson was sworn in for a second term on January 3, 2003. Thune was elected to South Dakota's other Senate seat in 2004, defeating incumbent minority leader Tom Daschle. He served alongside Johnson until the latter retired in 2015.

General election results [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Tim Johnson (incumbent) 167,481 49.62% -1.70%
Republican John Thune 166,95749.47%+0.79%
Libertarian Kurt Evans3,0700.91%
Total votes334,438 100.00% N/A
Democratic hold

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

See also

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References

  1. http://www.sdsos.gov/electionsvoteregistration/pastelections_electioninfo02_statewideprimaryofficialret.shtm#US Archived 2006-02-16 at the Wayback Machine Sen-D
  2. "Rothrock Library". Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
  3. "Rothrock Library". Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
  4. "Rothrock Library". Archived from the original on July 1, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
  5. "Senate Races". www.centerforpolitics.org. November 4, 2002. Archived from the original on November 18, 2002. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  6. "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives".