United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2002

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United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2002

← 1996 November 5, 2002 2008 →
  Norm Coleman official portrait-2.jpg 118px
Nominee Norm Coleman Walter Mondale
Party Republican DFL
Popular vote 1,116,697 1,067,246
Percentage 49.5% 47.3%

Minnesota Senate 2002.png
County results

U.S. senator before election

Dean Barkley
Independence

Elected U.S. Senator

Norm Coleman
Republican

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The 2002 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone was running for re-election to a third term, but died in a plane crash eleven days before the election. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) chose former Vice President and 1984 Presidential candidate Walter Mondale to replace Wellstone on the ballot. Mondale lost to Republican Mayor of Saint Paul Norm Coleman. The day before the election, independent Governor Jesse Ventura had appointed Dean Barkley to serve the rest of Wellstone's term.[1]

Primary elections

DFL

Paul Wellstone defeated Dick Franson 93% to 5%.

Republican

Norm Coleman defeated Jack Shepard 95% to 5%.

General election

Candidates on the ballot

* Paul Wellstone still appeared on the ballot despite his death (he had been replaced by former Vice President of the United States Walter Mondale)

Campaign

At the time of his death, Wellstone was slightly ahead in the polls. After Walter Mondale was chosen as the DFL candidate, in a poll taken a few days before the election Mondale was leading 51% to 45%. Early on Election Day, Mondale was leading in votes. By nightfall, however, Norm Coleman pulled ahead, winning by 49.5 percent to 47.3 percent.

Results

General election results
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Norm Coleman 1,116,697 49.53% +8.25%
DFL Walter Mondale 1,067,246 47.34% -2.98%
Independence Jim Moore 45,139 2.00% -4.98%
DFL Paul Wellstone 11,381 0.50% n/a
Green Ray Tricomo 10,119 0.48% n/a
Constitution Miro Drago Kovatchevich 2,254 0.10% n/a
Write-ins 1,803 0.80% n/a
Majority 49,451 2.19% Republican pickup from Independence
Turnout 2,254,639 80.26%

Aftermath

After Norm Coleman was declared the winner, Walter Mondale conceded and said in his speech, "At the end of what will be my last campaign, I want to say to Minnesota, you always treated me well, you always listened to me." Mondale's loss of this election, combined with his landslide defeat in the United States presidential election in 1984, made him the only American to lose an election in all 50 states. Although Mondale did not seek office again, he remained active politically. The election victor, Norm Coleman, was sworn-in on January 3, 2003 as the first Republican to hold that Senate seat since Rudy Boschwitz left office in 1991. Coleman would serve in the United States Senate until losing to Al Franken by a very small margin in the following election.

References

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