2002 United States Senate election in Oklahoma

The 2002 United States Senate election in Oklahoma was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe won re-election to a second full term. This was the first election since 1978 that the winner was of a different party than the concurrent gubernatorial election.

2002 United States Senate election in Oklahoma

← 1996 November 5, 2002 2008 →

Nominee Jim Inhofe David Walters James Germalic Party Republican Democratic Independent Popular vote 583,579 369,789 65,056 Percentage 57.30% 36.31% 6.39%

County results Inhofe:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Walters:      40–50%      50–60%

U.S. senator before election James Inhofe Republican Elected U.S. Senator James Inhofe Republican

Major candidates

Democratic

• David Walters, former Governor

Independent

• James Germalic

Republican

• James Inhofe, incumbent U.S. Senator

General election

Debates

• Complete video of debate, October 21, 2002
• Complete video of debate, October 23, 2002

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball[1]	Likely R	November 4, 2002

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	James Inhofe (R)	David Walters (D)	Other / Undecided
SurveyUSA[2]	November 1–3, 2002	710 (LV)	± 3.8%	53%	36%	12%

Results

General election results^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	James Inhofe (incumbent)	583,579	57.30%
	Democratic	David Walters	369,789	36.31%
	Independent	James Germalic	65,056	6.39%
Majority			213,790	20.99%
Turnout			1,018,424
	Republican hold		Swing

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Cotton (Largest city: Walters)
• Greer (Largest city: Mangum)
• Marshall (Largest city: Madill)
• Osage (Largest city: Hominy)
• Tillman (Largest city: Frederick)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Kiowa (Largest city: Hobart)
• Love (Largest city: Marietta)

^[4][5]

See also

• 2002 United States Senate elections

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear