2002 United States Senate election in Iowa

The 2002 United States Senate election in Iowa was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tom Harkin sought re-election to a fourth term in office. Harkin was opposed in the general election by U.S. Congressman Greg Ganske, who fought off a difficult challenger in the Republican primary. Though Harkin narrowly defeated his opponent six years earlier, he was able to defeat Ganske by a comfortable margin to win re-election.

2002 United States Senate election in Iowa

← 1996 November 5, 2002 2008 →
 
Nominee Tom Harkin Greg Ganske
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 554,278 447,892
Percentage 54.18% 43.78%

County results
Harkin:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
Ganske:      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      80-90%

U.S. senator before election

Tom Harkin
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Tom Harkin
Democratic

Democratic primary

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Candidates

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Results

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Democratic primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Tom Harkin (incumbent) 83,505 99.34%
Democratic Write-ins 555 0.66%
Total votes 84,060 100.00%

Republican primary

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Candidates

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Results

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Republican primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Greg Ganske 116,229 58.97%
Republican Bill Salier 80,700 40.95%
Republican Write-ins 167 0.08%
Total votes 197,096 100.00%

General election

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Debates

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Predictions

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Source Ranking As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball[2] Lean D November 4, 2002

Polling

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Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size[a]
Margin
of error
Tom
Harkin (D)
Greg
Ganske (R)
Other /
Undecided
SurveyUSA[3] October 27–29, 2002 605 (LV) ± 4.1% 60% 38% 2%

Results

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United States Senate election in Iowa, 2002[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Tom Harkin (incumbent) 554,278 54.18% +2.37%
Republican Greg Ganske 447,892 43.78% −2.94%
Green Timothy A. Harthan 11,340 1.11%
Libertarian Richard J. Moore 8,864 0.87%
Write-in 701 0.06%
Majority 106,386 10.40% +5.30%
Turnout 1,023,075
Democratic hold Swing

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

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Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

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See also

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Notes

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

References

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  1. ^ a b "Election: 2002 Primary Election (6/4/2002)" (PDF). State of Iowa Secretary of State.
  2. ^ "Senate Races". www.centerforpolitics.org. November 4, 2002. Archived from the original on November 18, 2002. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  3. ^ SurveyUSA
  4. ^ Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 2002" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 15.