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 County results Rockefeller: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Wolfe: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in West Virginia |
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The 2002 United States Senate election in West Virginia was held on November 5. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller won re-election to a fourth term, defeating Republican Jay Wolfe.
Wolfe ran a Grassroots campaign. Rockefeller was the heavy favorite. [1] [2] Rockefeller had $2.9 million cash on hand to Wolfe at $100,536 (In mid-October). Wolfe was endorsed by President George W. Bush and the National Rifle Association of America, but it wasn't enough to make the election competitive. [3]
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Sabato's Crystal Ball [4] | Safe D | November 4, 2002 |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Jay Rockefeller (incumbent) | 275,281 | 63.11% | -13.54% | |
| Republican | Jay Wolfe | 160,902 | 36.89% | +13.54% | |
| Total votes | 436,183 | 100.00% | N/A | ||
| Democratic hold | |||||
John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV is a retired American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia (1985–2015). He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as governor of West Virginia (1977–1985). Rockefeller moved to Emmons, West Virginia, to serve as a VISTA worker in 1964 and was first elected to public office as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates (1966-1968). Rockefeller was later elected secretary of state of West Virginia (1968–1973) and was president of West Virginia Wesleyan College (1973–1975). He became the state's senior U.S. senator when the long-serving Senator Robert Byrd died in June 2010.
The 2002 United States Senate elections 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. The Senate seats up for election, known as class 2 Senate seats, were last up for regular election in 1996. The election cycle was held on November 5, 2002, almost fourteen months after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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