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2002 United States Senate election in South Carolina

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Field	Value
election_name	2002 United States Senate election in South Carolina
country	South Carolina
type	presidential
ongoing	no
previous_election	1996 United States Senate election in South Carolina
previous_year	1996
next_election	2008 United States Senate election in South Carolina
next_year	2008
election_date	November 5, 2002
image1	File:Lindsey Graham.jpg
image_size	150x150px
nominee1	Lindsey Graham
party1	Republican Party (United States)
popular_vote1	600,010
percentage1	54.40%
image2	3x4.svg
nominee2	Alex Sanders
party2	Democratic Party (United States)
popular_vote2	487,359
percentage2	44.19%
map_image	2002 United States Senate election in South Carolina results map by county.svg
map_size	230px
map_caption	County results
title	U.S. Senator
before_election	Strom Thurmond
before_party	Republican Party (United States)
after_election	Lindsey Graham
after_party	Republican Party (United States)

Graham:
Sanders:
The 2002 United States Senate election in South Carolina was held on November 5, 2002. Longtime Republican incumbent Strom Thurmond decided to retire at the age of 100, becoming the first centenarian to ever serve in Congress; he later died in June 2003. Thurmond's record as the longest-serving Senator in U.S. history was later surpassed by West Virginia's Robert Byrd.

Representative Lindsey Graham won the open seat, becoming the first non-incumbent Republican Senator from South Carolina since Reconstruction in 1872. This was the first open Senate election in South Carolina since 1956.

Democratic primary

Alex Sanders, the former president of the College of Charleston, faced no opposition in the Democratic primary and thereby avoided a primary election.

Republican primary

Representative Lindsey Graham had no challenge for the Republican nomination and thus avoided a primary election. This was due in large part because the South Carolina Republicans were preoccupied with the gubernatorial race, and also because potential rivals were deterred by the huge financial war chest Graham had amassed early in the campaign.

General election

Candidates

Ted Adams (C)
Lindsey Graham (R), U.S. Representative
Victor Kocher (L)
Alex Sanders (D), former President of the College of Charleston

Campaign

The election campaign between Graham and Sanders pitted ideology against personality. Graham spread his message to the voters that he had a consistent conservative voting record and that his votes in Congress closely matched that of outgoing Senator Strom Thurmond. Sanders claimed that he was best to represent South Carolina in the Senate because he held membership in both the NAACP, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the NRA, and because he said that his positions more closely matched the citizens of the state. He said that he was against the death penalty for religious reasons, supported abortion rights, and was for greater government involvement in education. Graham attacked Sanders for these positions consistently throughout the campaign, but Sanders hit back at Graham for wanting to privatize social security.

Graham scored an impressive victory in the general election and the margin of victory proved that Democrats had little chance of winning an election in the state for a federal position. He achieved his victory because he rolled up strong margins the Upstate and was able to also achieve a majority in the Lowcountry, an area which Sanders had been expected to do well since he hailed from Charleston. However, strong support in the Lowcountry for Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Sanford doomed Sanders chances of running up a margin in the coastal counties.

Debates

Complete video of debate, October 6, 2002
Complete video of debate, October 13, 2002
Complete video of debate, October 18, 2002
Complete video of debate, October 20, 2002
Complete video of debate, October 25, 2002

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball		November 4, 2002

Polling

Source	Date	Graham (R)	Sanders (D)
Zogby International	October 11, 2002 [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Congressional/Senate_02_Polls.html](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Congressional/Senate_02_Polls.html)	47%	35%
Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research	October 13, 2002 [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Congressional/Senate_02_Polls.html](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Congressional/Senate_02_Polls.html)	51%	34%
SurveyUSA	October 20, 2002 [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Congressional/Senate_02_Polls.html](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Congressional/Senate_02_Polls.html)	53%	44%
SurveyUSA	October 27, 2002 [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Congressional/Senate_02_Polls.html](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Congressional/Senate_02_Polls.html)	49%	48%
Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research	October 29, 2002 [http://www.ncpp.org/files/Senate%20and%20Governor%20Polls%202002.pdf](http://www.ncpp.org/files/Senate%20and%20Governor%20Polls%202002.pdf)	53%	36%
SurveyUSA	November 4, 2002 [http://www.surveyusa.com/2002Elec.html](http://www.surveyusa.com/2002Elec.html)	49%	48%

Results

]] --

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Calhoun (largest town: St. Matthews)
Darlington (largest city: Hartsville)
Abbeville (Largest city: Abbeville)
Chesterfield (Largest city: Cheraw)
Sumter (Largest city: Sumter)
McCormick (largest town: McCormick)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Horry (largest town: Myrtle Beach)

Notes

References

General

Specific

References

"How to Succeed an Eight-Term Legend in South Carolina".
"THE 2002 ELECTIONS: THE GOVERNOR RACES; G.O.P. May Retain Its Lead in Statehouses".
"Rep. Lindsey Graham - South Carolina District 03". [[OpenSecrets]].
(November 4, 2002). "Senate Races".
"2002 U.S. SENATE RESULTS".

Info: Wikipedia Source

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