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 County results Sanford: 50–60% 60–70% Hodges: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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The2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2002, to select thegovernor of the state ofSouth Carolina.Mark Sanford, theRepublican nominee, defeated incumbentDemocratic governorJim Hodges to become the115th 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.
GovernorJim Hodges faced no opposition fromSouth Carolina Democrats and avoided aprimary election.
TheSouth Carolina Republican Party held theirprimary on June 11, 2002, and the runoff on June 25, 2002. The contest became a race betweenLieutenant GovernorBob Peeler fromthe Upstate andMark Sanford, a formerrepresentative of the1st congressional district in theLowcountry. Sanford received the support of the candidates eliminated from the runoff election and easily defeated Peeler.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mark Sanford | 122,143 | 38.62 | |
| Republican | Bob Peeler | 119,026 | 37.64 | |
| Republican | Charlie Condon | 49,469 | 15.64 | |
| Republican | Ken Wingate | 12,366 | 3.91 | |
| Republican | Jim Miles | 8,566 | 2.71 | |
| Republican | Reb Sutherland | 2,770 | 0.88 | |
| Republican | Bill Branton | 1,915 | 0.61 | |
| Total votes | 316,255 | 100 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mark Sanford | 183,820 | 60.13 | |
| Republican | Bob Peeler | 121,881 | 39.87 | |
| Total votes | 305,701 | 100 | ||
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Cook Political Report[2] | Tossup | October 31, 2002 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[3] | Lean R(flip) | November 4, 2002 |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size[a] | Margin of error | Jim Hodges (D) | Mark Sanford (R) | Other / Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SurveyUSA[4] | November 1–3, 2002 | 764 (LV) | ± 3.6% | 52% | 46% | 2% |
The general election was held on November 5, 2002, and Mark Sanford was elected as the nextgovernor 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 authorKevin Alexander Gray was a gubernatorial candidate representing the South CarolinaUnited Citizens’ Party &Green Party. He did not have the required signatures to be on the ballot, and consequently ran as a write-in candidate.[5]
Swing by county
Trend by county| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mark Sanford | 585,422 | 52.85 | +7.6 | |
| Democratic | Jim Hodges (incumbent) | 521,140 | 47.05 | −6.3 | |
| Write-in | 1,163 | 0.1 | -0.1 | ||
| Majority | 64,282 | 5.9 | −2.1 | ||
| Turnout | 1,107,725 | 54.1 | +1.1 | ||
| Republicangain fromDemocratic | |||||
| Preceded by 1998 | South Carolina gubernatorial elections | Succeeded by 2006 |
