2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:ElectionsSC The 2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2002, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Mark Sanford, the Republican nominee, defeated incumbent Democratic governor Jim Hodges to become the 115th governor of South Carolina. Hodges became only the third incumbent governor and the first Democratic governor in South Carolina history to lose re-election. With Sanford's election, Republicans won a trifecta in the state for the first time since 1877.

Democratic primary

Governor Jim Hodges faced no opposition from South Carolina Democrats and avoided a primary election.

Republican primary

The South Carolina Republican Party held their primary on June 11, 2002, and the runoff on June 25, 2002. The contest became a race between Lieutenant Governor Bob Peeler from the Upstate and Mark Sanford, a former representative of the 1st congressional district in the Lowcountry. Sanford received the support of the candidates eliminated from the runoff election and easily defeated Peeler.

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
		Mark Sanford		38.62
		Bob Peeler		37.64
		Charlie Condon		15.64
		Ken Wingate		3.91
		Jim Miles		2.71
		Reb Sutherland		0.88
		Bill Branton		0.61
Total votes				100

Republican primary runoff results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
		Mark Sanford		60.13
		Bob Peeler		39.87
Total votes				100

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report	Template:USRaceRating	October 31, 2002
Sabato's Crystal Ball	Template:USRaceRating	November 4, 2002

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample sizeTemplate:Efn	Margin of error	Jim Hodges (D)	Mark Sanford (R)	Other / Undecided
SurveyUSA	November 1–3, 2002	764 (LV)	± 3.6%	style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" align=center| 52%	46%	2%

Results

The general election was held on November 5, 2002, and Mark Sanford was elected as the next governor of South Carolina. Turnout was higher than in the previous gubernatorial election because of the competitive nature of the race between the two parties. Activist and author Kevin Alexander Gray was a gubernatorial candidate representing the South Carolina United Citizens’ Party & Green Party. He did not have the required signatures to be on the ballot, and consequently ran as a write-in candidate.

Template:Switcher

Template:Election box winning candidate with party linkTemplate:Election box write-in with party link

South Carolina gubernatorial election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Jim Hodges (incumbent)	521,140	47.05
Majority			64,282	5.9
Turnout			1,107,725	54.1
	Republican gain from Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Abbeville (largest city: Abbeville)
• Georgetown (largest city: Murrells Inlet)
• Lancaster (largest city: Lancaster)
• Barnwell (largest city: Barnwell)
• Berkeley (largest city: Goose Creek)
• Horry (largest town: Myrtle Beach)
• Dorchester (largest city: North Charleston)
• Edgefield (largest city: Edgefield)
• Florence (largest city: Florence)
• Greenwood (largest city: Greenwood)
• Kershaw (largest city: Cmaden)
• Laurens (largest city: Laurens)
• Newberry (largest city: Newberry)
• Saluda (largest city: Saluda)

File:2002SCGovResults.png

2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election map, by percentile by county

  65+% won by Sanford

  60%-64% won by Sanford

  55%-59% won by Sanford

  50%-54% won by Sanford

  50%-54% won by Hodges

  55%-59% won by Hodges

  60%-64% won by Hodges

  65+% won by Hodges

See also

• Governor of South Carolina
• List of governors of South Carolina
• South Carolina gubernatorial elections

External links

• SCIway biography of Governor James Hovis Hodges
• South Carolina election returns

Preceded by 1998

South Carolina gubernatorial elections

Succeeded by 2006