2002 United States House of Representatives election in North Dakota

The 2002 U.S. House of Representatives election for the state of North Dakota's at-large congressional district was held November 5, 2002. The incumbent, Democratic-NPL Congressman Earl Pomeroy was re-elected to his sixth term, defeating Republican candidate Rick Clayburgh.

2002 United States House of Representatives election in North Dakota

← 2000 November 5, 2002 (2002-11-05) 2004 →

Candidate Earl Pomeroy Rick Clayburgh Party Democratic–NPL Republican Popular vote 121,073 109,957 Percentage 52.4% 47.6%

County results Pomeroy:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Clayburgh:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. Representative before election Earl Pomeroy Democratic–NPL Elected U.S. Representative Earl Pomeroy Democratic–NPL

Only Pomeroy filed as a Dem-NPLer, and the endorsed Republican candidate was Rick Clayburgh, who was serving as the North Dakota State Tax Commissioner. Pomeroy and Clayburgh won the primary elections for their respective parties.^[1]

The election was the closest for Pomeroy in all of his career as congressman until his defeat in 2010; he won by just over 11,000 votes. This was because Clayburgh ran an aggressive campaign, and was the most well-known candidate ever to face Pomeroy; he had held a statewide office for 8 years. United States Vice President Dick Cheney campaigned for Clayburgh in Fargo, North Dakota on July 29.^[2]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball[3]	Lean D	November 4, 2002
New York Times[4]	Lean D	October 14, 2002

Results

North Dakota's at-large congressional district election, 2002^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic–NPL	Earl Pomeroy (incumbent)	121,073	52.41
	Republican	Rick Clayburgh	109,957	47.59
Total votes			231,030	100.00
	Democratic–NPL hold

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Adams (largest city: Hettinger)
• Dunn (largest city: Killdeer)
• Hettinger (largest city: Mott)
• LaMoure (largest city: LaMoure)
• Morton (largest city: Mandan)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• McKenzie (largest city: Watford City)
• Pierce (largest city: Rugby)