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2002 United States Senate election in South Dakota

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Field	Value
election_name	2002 United States Senate election in South Dakota
country	South Dakota
type	presidential
ongoing	no
previous_election	1996 United States Senate election in South Dakota
previous_year	1996
next_election	2008 United States Senate election in South Dakota
next_year	2008
election_date	November 5, 2002
image_size	x155px
image1	Tim Johnson official portrait, 2009.jpg
nominee1	Tim Johnson
party1	Democratic Party (United States)
popular_vote1	167,481
percentage1	49.62%
image2	File:John Thune official photo (cropped).jpg
nominee2	John Thune
party2	Republican Party (United States)
popular_vote2	166,957
percentage2	49.47%
map_image	2002 United States Senate election in South Dakota results map by county.svg
map_size	260px
map_caption	County results
Johnson:
Thune:
title	U.S. Senator
before_election	Tim Johnson
before_party	Democratic Party (United States)
after_election	Tim Johnson
after_party	Democratic Party (United States)

Johnson:
Thune:
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 future senator and Senate Majority Leader John Thune by a margin of 524 votes, or 0.15%. This made the election the closest race of the 2002 Senate election cycle.

This was one of the four Democratic-held Senate seats up for election in a state that George W. Bush won in the 2000 presidential election.

Thune later narrowly won South Dakota's other U.S. Senate seat in 2004, and was re-elected in 2010, 2016, and 2022 in uncompetitive elections. He would become the Senate Majority Leader after the 2024 elections.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Tim Johnson, incumbent U.S. Senator
Herman Eilers

Results

General election

Candidates

Kurt Evans (L), teacher
Tim Johnson (D), incumbent U.S. Senator
John Thune (R), U.S. Representative

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. President George W. Bush campaigned for Thune in late October. More than $20 million was spent in the election. Both candidates had raised over $5 million each.

Debates

Complete video of debate, August 27, 2002
Complete video of debate, October 7, 2002
Complete video of debate, October 21, 2002
Complete video of debate, October 24, 2002

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball		November 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.

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Union (largest city: Dakota Dunes)
Davison (largest city: Mitchell)
Gregory (largest city: Gregory)
Hamlin (largest city: Estelline)
Lincoln (largest city: Sioux Falls)
Turner (largest city: Parker)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Bennett (largest city: Martin)
Corson (largest city: McLaughlin)
Mellette (largest city: White River)

References

http://www.sdsos.gov/electionsvoteregistration/pastelections_electioninfo02_statewideprimaryofficialret.shtm#US {{Webarchive. link. (2006-02-16 Sen-D)
"Rothrock Library".
"Rothrock Library".
"Rothrock Library".
(November 4, 2002). "Senate Races".
"Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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