2002 United States Senate elections

} Source: Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives == Change in composition ==

Before the elections After the death of Paul Wellstone on October 25, 2002, and the appointment of Minnesota on November 4. After the elections == Gains, losses and holds ==

Retirements One Independence and four Republicans retired instead of seeking re-election. Nomination withdrawn One Democrat was originally sought to run re-election but withdrew. Defeats Two Democrats and two Republicans sought re-election but lost in the primary or general election. Post-election changes One Republican resigned on December 2, 2002, and was replaced by a Republican appointee. == Final pre-election predictions ==

Several sites and individuals published predictions of competitive seats. These predictions looked at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent was running for re-election) and the other candidates, and the state's partisan lean (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assigned ratings to each seat, indicating the predicted advantage that a party had in winning that seat. Most election predictors used: • "tossup": no advantage • "tilt" (used by some predictors): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean" • "lean": slight advantage • "likely": significant, but surmountable, advantage • "safe" or "solid": near-certain chance of victory" after the incumbent's name. See Template:USRaceRating for how to apply rating. --> == Race summary ==

Special elections during the 107th Congress In these special elections, the winner was seated in the fall of 2002; ordered by election date, then state. Elections leading to the next Congress In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 2003; ordered by state. All of the elections involved the Class 2 seats. ==Closest races==

In eleven races the margin of victory was under 10% == Alabama ==

Since around 1980, Alabama voters had increasingly voted for Republican candidates at the federal level, especially in Presidential elections. By contrast, Democratic candidates had been elected to many state-level offices and comprised a longstanding majority in the Alabama Legislature. Incumbent Republican Jeff Sessions was not challenged in the primary, and comfortably won re-election to a second term over state Auditor Susan Parker . Sessions was not challenged in the primary. McPhillips received a large amount of support in the southern part of the state, but Parker won the most votes. Sowell endorsed Parker for the run-off. == Alaska ==

Incumbent Ted Stevens ran for and won a seventh term. He faced perennial candidate Frank Vondersaar, the Democratic nominee, journalist Jim Sykes, the Green Party nominee, and several other independent candidates in his bid for re-election. Ultimately, Stevens crushed his opponents to win what would be his last term in the Senate, allowing him to win with the largest margin of victory for any Senate election in Alaska, as well as the highest percentage of the vote in any of his elections. == Arkansas ==

Incumbent Republican Tim Hutchinson ran for a second term, but lost re-election to Arkansas Attorney General Mark Pryor. challenged incumbent Tim Hutchinson in the primary. == Colorado ==

Incumbent Republican Wayne Allard won re-election to a second term over former U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland. == Delaware ==

Incumbent Democrat Joe Biden comfortably won re-election to a sixth term. == Georgia ==

Incumbent Democrat Max Cleland ran for re-election to a second term, but lost to Republican U.S. Representative Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss's campaign used the refrain of national defense and security, but drew criticism for television ads that paired images of Cleland and Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and for questioning the commitment to homeland security of his opponent, a triple amputee and decorated Vietnam veteran. Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said of one ad: "It's worse than disgraceful. It's reprehensible." McCain, along with Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, made significant complaints to the Republican National Committee until the ads were taken down. Nevertheless, Chambliss defeated Cleland by nearly seven percentage points. == Idaho ==

Incumbent Republican Larry Craig easily won re-election to a third term over former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Alan Blinken. == Illinois ==

Incumbent Democrat Dick Durbin won re-election to a second term. Durbin faced off against state Representative and future Illinois House minority leader Jim Durkin, whom he was able to beat, ensuring his return to the Senate. Durbin won re-election to a second term easily, carrying a majority of the states 102 counties. == Iowa ==

Incumbent Democrat Tom Harkin won re-election to a fourth term. Harkin was opposed in the general election by United States Congressman Greg Ganske, who fought off a surprisingly difficult challenger in the Republican primary. Though Harkin had narrowly defeated his opponent six years earlier, he was able to defeat Ganske by a fairly comfortable margin to win re-election. == Kansas ==

Incumbent Pat Roberts won re-election to a second term overwhelmingly because no Democrat filed to run. == Kentucky ==

Incumbent Republican Mitch McConnell easily won re-election to a fourth term. == Louisiana ==

Incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu narrowly won re-election to a second term. During the run-off, Landrieu was out-spent three-to-one by Republican contender Suzanne Haik Terrell, the Louisiana Elections Commissioner. Terrell also had prominent Republicans including President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney visit Louisiana to campaign on her behalf. Republicans, confident of victory having gained seats in the elections to the House of Representatives and to the Senate, solidifying control of the former and taking control of the latter, publicly called the election "Operation Icing on the Cake". Some Democrats responded by calling their efforts "Operation Wipe that Smirk off of Bush's Face" and dubbed Landrieu's subsequent narrow run-off victory, "Operation Pie in the Face". Landrieu pulled off what many considered to be an upset victory. The Republicans believed they would most likely win the race. Before the election many Republicans called the race operation icing on the cake. After Landrieu won the runoff Democrats dubbed her victory operation pie in the face. The race was close. In terms of rural parishes the vote was split fairly evenly. Landrieu did well in Caddo Parish home of Shreveport, and in East Baton Rouge Parish home of East Baton Rouge. Ultimately though it was Landrieu's huge win in Orleans Parish home of New Orleans that pushed her over the finish line. Haik Terrell conceded defeat to Landrieu at 12:38 p.m. EST, congratulating Landrieu on her victory. Landrieu would go on to be re-elected to a third term in 2008. == Maine ==

Incumbent Republican Susan Collins comfortably won re-election to a second term. Chellie Pingree, State Senator and Senate Majority Leader attacked Collins for supporting the Bush tax cuts. Both candidates opposed the Iraq War in the fall of 2002. However, Collins then supported the congressional resolution to attack Iraq, while Pingree opposed it. Collins, a popular moderate, was supported by some health care groups, environmentalists and gay rights advocates. She handily defeated State Senator Chellie Pingree of North Haven in one of the few U.S. Senate elections in which both major parties nominated women in U.S. history. == Massachusetts ==

Kerry: | title = U.S. Senator | before_election = John Kerry | before_party = Democratic Party (US) | after_election = John Kerry | after_party = Democratic Party (US) }} Incumbent Democrat John Kerry won re-election to a fourth term against Libertarian Michael Cloud. The lack of a Republican party candidate caused Cloud to receive the largest percentage of votes for a U.S. Senate candidate in the Libertarian Party's history, though this record has since been eclipsed by Joe Miller in Alaska in 2016, and again by Ricky Dale Harrington in Arkansas in 2020. == Michigan ==