United States Senate elections, 2002

Infobox Election
election_name = United States Senate elections, 2002
country = United States
type = legislative
ongoing = no
previous_election = United States Senate elections, 2000
previous_year = 2000
next_election = United States Senate elections, 2004
next_year = 2004
seats_for_election = 34 seats in the United States Senate
election_date = November 5, 2002

leader1 = Trent Lott
party1 = Republican Party (United States)
leaders_seat1 = Mississippi
last_election1 = 49 seats
seats1 = 51
seat_change1 = +2
popular_vote1 = 21,428,784
percentage1 = 51.3%
swing1 = +3.7%

leader2 = Tom Daschle
party2 = Democratic Party (United States)
leaders_seat2 = South Dakota
last_election2 = 50 seats
seats2 = 48
seat_change2 = -2
popular_vote2 = 18,665,605
percentage2 = 44.7%
swing2 = -0.7%

map_

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map_size = 320px
map_caption = legend|#800|Republican holdlegend|#f00|Republican pickupslegend|#008|Democratic holdlegend|#00f|Democratic pickup

title = Majority Leader
before_election = Tom Daschle
before_party = Democratic Party (United States)
after_election = Bill Frist
after_party = Republican Party (United States)

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 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

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

* [http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2002/ CNN results]

ee also

*United States Senate elections, 2004
*United States House elections, 2002
*United States gubernatorial elections, 2002
*United States Senate elections, 2000