2002 Tennessee elections

Tennessee state elections in 2002 were held on Tuesday, November 5, 2002. Primary elections for the United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, governorship, Tennessee Senate, and Tennessee House of Representatives, were held on August 1, 2002. There were also two constitutional amendments to the Constitution of Tennessee on the November 5 ballot.

2002 Tennessee elections

← 2000 2004 →

United States Congress

Senate

Main article: 2002 United States Senate election in Tennessee

Final results by county:

  Alexander

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

  Clement

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

Incumbent Republican U.S. senator Fred Thompson decided to retire. Former Republican governor Lamar Alexander won the open seat, defeating Congressman Bob Clement.

Results

United States Senate election in Tennessee, 2002^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Lamar Alexander	891,498	54.28%	−7.09%
	Democratic	Bob Clement	728,232	44.34%	+7.52%
	Independent	John Jay Hooker	6,401	0.39%	N/A
	Independent	Wesley M. Baker	6,106	0.37%	N/A
	Independent	Connie Gammon	5,349	0.33%	N/A
	Independent	Karl Stanley Davidson	2,217	0.13%	N/A
	Independent	Basil Marceaux	1,170	0.07%	N/A
	Write-ins		356	0.02%	N/A
Majority			163,266	9.94%	−14.61%
Turnout			1,642,432	50.40%
	Republican hold		Swing

August 1, 2002, Primary Results

Democratic primary results^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bob Clement	418,172	82.18%
	Democratic	Gary G. Davis	50,563	9.94%
	Democratic	Cher A. Hopkey	14,481	2.85%
	Democratic	Michael L. Hampstead	12,940	2.54%
	Democratic	Alvin M. Strauss	12,241	2.41%
	Democratic	Write-ins	478	0.08%
Total votes			508,875	100.00%

Republican primary results^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lamar Alexander	295,052	53.79%
	Republican	Ed Bryant	233,678	42.60%
	Republican	Mary Taylor-Shelby	5,589	1.02%
	Republican	June Griffin	4,930	0.90%
	Republican	Michael Brent Todd	4,002	0.73%
	Republican	James E. DuBose	3,572	0.65%
	Republican	Christopher G. Fenner	1,552	0.28%
	Republican	Write-ins	107	0.03%
Total votes			548,482	100.00%

House of Representatives

Main article: 2002 United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee

District results:

  Democratic

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%

  Republican

•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   >90%

Tennessee elected nine U.S. representatives, each representing one of Tennessee's nine congressional districts.

Results

District	Incumbent			This race
	Member	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
Tennessee 1	Bill Jenkins	Republican	1996	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Bill Jenkins (Republican) Uncontested
Tennessee 2	Jimmy Duncan	Republican	1988	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Jimmy Duncan (Republican) 78.98% ▌John Greene (Democratic) 19.91% Others ▌Joshua Williamson (Independent) 0.60% ▌George Njezic (Independent) 0.51%
Tennessee 3	Zach Wamp	Republican	1994	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Zach Wamp (Republican) 64.54% ▌John Wolfe Jr. (Democratic) 33.82% ▌William Bolen (Independent) 1.00% ▌Timothy Sevier (Independent) 0.54%
Tennessee 4	Van Hilleary	Republican	1994	Incumbent retired to run for Governor of Tennessee. New member elected. Democratic gain.	▌Y Lincoln Davis (Democratic) 52.08% ▌Janice Bowling (Republican) 46.49% Others ▌William Chandler (Independent) 0.58% ▌John Ray (Independent) 0.33% ▌Bert Mason (Independent) 0.27% ▌Ed Wellmann (Independent) 0.22%
Tennessee 5	Bob Clement	Democratic	1988	Incumbent retired to run for U.S. senator. New member elected. Democratic hold.	▌Y Jim Cooper (Democratic) 63.73% ▌Robert Duvall (Republican) 33.25% ▌John Jay Hooker (Independent) 1.79% Others ▌Jonathan Farley (Independent) 0.71% ▌Jesse Turner (Independent) 0.51%
Tennessee 6	Bart Gordon	Democratic	1984	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Bart Gordon (Democratic) 65.92% ▌Robert Garrison (Republican) 32.33% ▌Patrick Lyons (Independent) 1.73%
Tennessee 7	Ed Bryant	Republican	1994	Incumbent retired to run for U.S. senator. New member elected. Republican hold.	▌Y Marsha Blackburn (Republican) 70.73% ▌Tim Barron (Democratic) 26.48% ▌Rick Patterson (Independent) 2.77%
Tennessee 8	John S. Tanner	Democratic	1988	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y John S. Tanner (Democratic) 70.14% ▌Mat McClain (Republican) 27.30% ▌James L. Hart (Independent) 2.55%
Tennessee 9	Harold Ford Jr.	Democratic	1996	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Harold Ford Jr. (Democratic) 83.81% ▌Tony Rush (Independent) 16.09%

Popular vote Republican   50.38% Democratic   46.31% Other   3.30%

House seats Democratic   55.56% Republican   44.44%

Gubernatorial

Main article: 2002 Tennessee gubernatorial election

Final results by county:

  Bredesen

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

  Hilleary

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

Incumbent Democratic governor Phil Bredesen was re-elected to a second term with 68.6% of the vote, defeating his Republican challenger Jim Bryson. Improving on his performance from 2002, Bredesen also carried every county in the state.

Results

Tennessee gubernatorial election, 2002^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Phil Bredesen	837,284	50.65%	+21.17%
	Republican	Van Hilleary	786,803	47.59%	−21.03%
	Independent	Edwin C. Sanders	7,749	0.47%	N/A
	Independent	Carl Two Feathers Whitaker	5,308	0.32%	N/A
	Independent	John Jay Hooker	4,577	0.28%	N/A
	Independent	David Gatchell	2,991	0.18%	N/A
	Independent	Gabriel Givens	1,591	0.10%	N/A
	Independent	Ray Ledford	1,589	0.10%	N/A
	Independent	James E. Herren	1,210	0.07%	N/A
	Independent	Charles V. Wilhoit, Jr.	898	0.05%	N/A
	Independent	Marivuana Stout Leinoff	645	0.04%	N/A
	Independent	Francis E. Waldron	635	0.04%	N/A
	Independent	Ronny Simmons	630	0.04%	N/A
	Independent	Robert O. Watson	579	0.04%	N/A
	Independent	Basil Marceaux	302	0.02%	N/A
	Write-ins		376	0.02%	N/A
Total votes			1,653,167	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

August 1, 2002, primary results

Democratic primary results^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Phil Bredesen	426,418	79.05
	Democratic	Randy Nichols	38,322	7.10
	Democratic	Charles E. Smith	34,547	6.40
	Democratic	Charles V. Brown	17,506	3.25
	Democratic	L. Best	16,007	2.97
	Democratic	Floyd R. Conover	6,218	1.15
	Democratic	Write-ins	420	0.08
Total votes			539,438	100.00

Republican primary results^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Van Hilleary	343,543	64.31
	Republican	Jim Henry	159,862	29.92
	Republican	Bob Tripp	17,156	3.21
	Republican	Dave Kelley	8,581	1.61
	Republican	Jessie D. McDonald	4,682	0.88
	Republican	Write-ins	389	0.07
Total votes			534,213	100.00

State legislature

State Senate

Main article: 2002 Tennessee Senate election

See also: Tennessee General Assembly

Elections for 17 of the 33 seats in Tennessee's State Senate were held on November 5, 2002.

After this election, Democrats had 18 seats while Republicans had 15 seats. Both parties maintained their respective amount of seats.

State House of Representatives

Main article: 2002 Tennessee House of Representatives election

The election of all 99 seats in the Tennessee House of Representatives occurred on November 5, 2002.

Democrats won 54 seats, while Republicans won 45 seats. Republicans gained four seats.

Ballot measures

Amendment 1

Main article: 2002 Tennessee Amendment 1

Amendment 1

Shall the Tennessee Constitution be amended so that the period (.) at the end of Article XI, Section 5, of the Constitution of Tennessee be changed to a comma (,) and the following new language be added: except that the legislature may authorize as state lottery if the net proceeds of the lottery's revenues are allocated to provide financial assistance to citizens of this statet to enable such citizens to attend post-secondary educational institutions located within this state. The excess after such allocations from such 1 net proceeds from the lottery would be appropriaed to: (1) Capital outlay projects for K-12 educational facilities; and (2) Early learning programs and after school programs. Such appropriation of funds to support improvements and enhancements for educational programs and purposes and such net proceeds shall be used to supplement, not supplant, non-lottery educational resources for education programs and purposes. All other forms of lottery not authorized herein are expressly prohibited unless authorized by a two-thirds vote of all members elected to each house of the General Assembly for an annual event operated for the benefit of a 501(c)(3) organization located in this state, as defined by the 2000 United States Tax Code or as may be amended from time to time. A state lottery means a lottery of the type such as in operation in Georgia, Kentucky and Virginia in 2000, and the amendment to Article XI, Section 5 of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee provided for herein does not authorize games of chance associated with casinos, including, but not limited to, slot machines, roulette wheels, and the like. The state lottery authorized in this section shall be implemented and administered uniformly throughout the state in such manner as the legislature, by general law, deems appropriate.
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 894,232 57.54% No 659,979 42.46% Valid votes 1,554,211 100.00% Invalid or blank votes 0 0.00% Total votes 1,554,211 100.00%
Yes   60–70%   50–60% No   50–60%
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State[7]

This amendment would establish a state lottery. It passed with 57.54% of the vote, establishing the Tennessee Lottery.^[8]

Amendment 2

Main article: 2002 Tennessee Amendment 2

Amendment 2

Shall the Tennessee Constitution be amended by deleting Article VI, Section 14, in its entirety and by substituting instead the following: Sec. 14. The General Assembly shall prescribe the maximum fine that, absent waiver, may be assessed without a jury.
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 702,434 52.98% No 623,535 47.02% Valid votes 1,325,969 100.00% Invalid or blank votes 0 0.00% Total votes 1,325,969 100.00%
Yes   60–70%   50–60% No   60–70%   50–60%
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State[7]

See also

• Elections in Tennessee
• Political party strength in Tennessee
• Tennessee Democratic Party
• Tennessee Republican Party
• Government of Tennessee
• 2002 United States elections