2002 Alabama gubernatorial election

← 1998 November 5, 2002 2006 →

Nominee Bob Riley Don Siegelman Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 672,225 669,105 Percentage 49.17% 48.95%

County results Congressional district results Riley:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70% Siegelman:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%

Governor before election Don Siegelman Democratic ElectedGovernor Bob Riley Republican

The2002 Alabama gubernatorial election was held on November 5. With 669,105 votes or 48.95%, incumbent DemocratDon Siegelman lost re-election to RepublicanBob Riley (who got 672,225 votes or 49.17%), a margin of 3,120 votes or 0.22%. The close and controversial election was marked by high turnout. This was the third consecutive Alabama gubernatorial election where the incumbent was defeated. Riley was sworn in on January 20, 2003, marking what is to date the last time the Alabama Governor's office changed partisan control.

Primary elections were held on June 4. Both of the nominees faced less opposition than expected.^{[citation needed]}

• Don Siegelman, incumbent Governor^[1]

• Charles Bishop,Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries^[1]
• Blake W. Harper III, businessman^[1]
• Gladys Riddle, member of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles^[1]
• Mark "Rodeo Clown" Townsend^[1]

• Bob Riley, U.S. Representative forAlabama's 3rd Congressional district (1997–2003)^[2]

• Tim James, businessman and son of former GovernorFob James^[2]
• Steve Windom,Lieutenant Governor^[2]

The closeness of the general election contest was reflected in its intensity and fervor. At one point in the campaign, a clash erupted between the two principal campaigns over disclosure of the identities of large contributors to the Riley campaign. PresidentGeorge W. Bush appeared in Alabama at a July event, and a private reception with a $50,000 admission was held to benefit the Riley campaign. Riley's campaign initially refused to identify the donors attending the event. Later, under pressure from the Siegelman campaign, Riley called on the national Republican Party, which had hosted the event, to release the names of donors.^[3] The Riley campaign was subjected to editorial criticism when the voluminous reports released made it difficult to trace the sources of donations from the event to Riley.^[4]

During the campaign, actor andNational Rifle Association presidentCharlton Heston came to Alabama to campaign for Republican congressional candidates. While in the state, Heston released a written statement endorsing Siegelman, despite the fact that Riley had made a point of being seen in public with Heston. Spokesmen for both Riley and the Alabama Republican Party issued statements insinuating that Siegelman had taken advantage of Heston's recently diagnosedAlzheimer's disease to secure the endorsement. After a firestorm of criticism from the NRA and editorial pages, the Republican spokesmen apologized to Heston, but not to Siegelman.^[5]

Riley received the endorsements ofThe Birmingham News,^[6] theMobile Press-Register, the Business Council of Alabama, and theAuburn University Trustee Improvement PAC, an alumni group which opposed Siegelman's choices for trustees at the school (Siegleman re-appointed controversial trusteeBobby Lowder, notorious for constant interference in the university's affairs).^[7] In addition to the NRA, Siegelman was endorsed byThe Montgomery Advertiser,The Anniston Star,The Tuscaloosa News, and various labor groups, including the Alabama State Employees Association.^[8] Siegelman was also endorsed byAlabama Education Association executive secretary Paul Hubbert, although the Association itself remained officially neutral.^[9]

The campaign set new spending records for an Alabama gubernatorial race. Even before the final weeks of the campaign, the candidates had raised over $17,000,000. Riley, who raised and spent over twice the sum Siegelman raised, was primarily backed by business groups and insurance companies. Siegelman received substantial contributions from labor groups and affiliates of the Alabama Education Association. Both candidates were the beneficiaries of national party funding, and contributions frompolitical action committees made donations to both candidates difficult to trace.^[10]

Polls taken in the final days of the campaign reflected the eventual close outcome.^[11]

Initial returns showed Riley narrowly losing to Siegelman. Siegelman gave a victory speech on election night, and theAssociated Press initially declared him the winner.^[14]

However, officials inBaldwin County conducted a recount and retabulation of that county's votes after midnight, and after Democratic Party observers had gone home for the night.^[15] Approximately 6,000 votes initially credited to Siegelman were either removed from the total or reassigned to Riley in the recount, turning the statewide result in Riley's favor.^[16] Local Republican officials claimed the earlier returns were the result of a "computer glitch."^[17]

Democratic requests to repeat the recount with Democratic observers present were rejected by Alabama courts and then-Attorney GeneralBill Pryor. Siegelman and his supporters complained that these judges (and Pryor) were either elected as Republicans or appointed by Republican presidents.^[18] After over a week of fights in courtrooms and in the media, Siegelman, on November 18, 2002, made a televised address, saying that, "I've decided that a prolonged election controversy would hurt Alabama, would hurt the very people that we worked so hard to help", and abandoned his efforts to secure a recount of the Baldwin County vote, allowing Riley to take office.^[19]

• Clarke (Largest city:Jackson)
• Crenshaw (Largest city:Luverne)
• Mobile (Largest city:Mobile)
• Limestone (Largest city:Athens)
• Butler (Largest city:Greenville)
• Clay (Largest city:Lineville)
• Cleburne (Largest city:Heflin)
• Coffee (Largest city:Enterprise)
• Cullman (Largest city:Cullman)
• Dale (Largest city:Brewton)
• Escambia (Largest city:Atmore)
• Chambers (Largest city:Valley)
• DeKalb (Largest city:Fort Payne)
• Henry (Largest city:Headland)
• Madison (Largest city:Huntsville)
• Lee (Largest city:Auburn)
• Marshall (Largest city:Albertville)
• Monroe (Largest city:Monroeville)
• Morgan (Largest city:Decatur)
• Pike (Largest city:Troy)
• Randolph (Largest city:Roanoke)
• Tallapoosa (Largest city:Alexander City)

Despite winning 4 out of 7 congressional districts, Riley lost his old district by around 7% after it was redistricted to become more Democratic.^[20]

Riley's victory was controversial and caused many commentators to recall theFlorida election recount of 2000.^[21][22]

In response to the allegation of a "computer glitch", Siegelman later stated: "[N]ow one would expect that if there was some kind of computer glitch or some kind of computer programming error, that it might have affected more than one race, but it further raised suspicions about vote stealing when the votes came back and they were certified, and the only person who lost votes was Don Siegelman, the Democrat, and the only person who gained votes was Bob Riley, the Republican."^[23]

A number of analyses of the competing claims were undertaken at the time, with conflicting results. In one such study,Auburn University political scientist James H. Gundlach concluded that a detailed analysis of the returns, compared with 1998 results and returns from undisputed counties, "strongly suggests a systematic manipulation of the voting results."^[24] The Gundlach study also suggested a mechanism by which this could have been effected, and proposed a conclusion that Siegelman won. An earlier analysis reported by the Associated Press, using a less sophisticated comparison of gubernatorial and legislative returns, was claimed to indicate that the revised returns were more accurate, and that Riley probably won.^[25] The Gundlach paper offers a refutation of the conclusions of the Associated Press study.

Largely as a result of this controversy,^[26] theAlabama Legislature later amended the election code to provide for automatic, supervised recounts in close races.^[27]

Note on references: Many of the sources cited above (as added in May 2008) are not available from free online sources.The Birmingham News, theMobile Press-Register,The Montgomery Advertiser, andThe Anniston Star have online archives on a fee basis. The Birmingham and Mobile newspaper archives may be accessed viawww.al.com, while archives ofThe Anniston Star can be accessed atwww.annistonstar.com. Archived articles ofThe Montgomery Advertiser may be purchased atwww.montgomeryadvertiser.com Archived articles from all of these newspapers are also available to subscribers, or on a per-document fee basis, onWestlaw andLexis-Nexis.

• 2002 Election information at sos.state.al.us
• Certified election results at sos.state.al.us

• 2002 United States gubernatorial elections
• Alabama gubernatorial elections
• 2002 Alabama elections

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