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| Turnout | 50.40% [1] 17.87pp | ||||||||||||||||
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 County results Congressional district resultsBredesen: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Hilleary: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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The2002 Tennessee gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 2002, to elect the nextgovernor of Tennessee, alongside other state andlocal elections. IncumbentRepublican governorDon Sundquist was term-limited and was prohibited by theConstitution of Tennessee from seeking a third consecutive term. To succeed him, formerDemocraticNashville MayorPhil Bredesen, who had run against Sundquist in1994, narrowly defeatedRepublicanUnited States CongressmanVan Hilleary in the general election.
With this win, Bredesen flipped the state back into Democratic control, with thestate legislature also being controlled by Democrats.
Phil Bredesen promised to manage state government better, improve Tennessee's schools and use his experience as a managed-care executive to fixTennCare, which had created a critical budget shortfall toward the end of Sundquist's term. His reputation as a moderate Democrat was well established (he was a member of the "good government" faction of the Nashville Democratic Party), so Hilleary's attempts to brand him as aliberal ultimately failed. Republicans also suffered from governorDon Sundquist's unpopular attempts to implement a state income tax.[2] Bredesen garnered more support inEast Tennessee than was usual for a Democrat, especially one from Nashville.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Van Hilleary | 343,543 | 64.31% | |
| Republican | Jim Henry | 159,862 | 29.92% | |
| Republican | Bob Tripp | 17,156 | 3.21% | |
| Republican | Dave Kelley | 8,581 | 1.61% | |
| Republican | Jessie D. McDonald | 4,682 | 0.88% | |
| Republican | Write-ins | 389 | 0.07% | |
| Total votes | 534,213 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Phil Bredesen | 426,418 | 79.05% | |
| Democratic | Randy Nichols | 38,322 | 7.10% | |
| Democratic | Charles E. Smith | 34,547 | 6.40% | |
| Democratic | Charles V. Brown | 17,506 | 3.25% | |
| Democratic | L. Best | 16,007 | 2.97% | |
| Democratic | Floyd R. Conover | 6,218 | 1.15% | |
| Democratic | Write-ins | 420 | 0.08% | |
| Total votes | 539,438 | 100.00% | ||
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Cook Political Report[5] | Tossup | October 31, 2002 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[6] | Lean D(flip) | November 4, 2002 |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size[a] | Margin of error | Phil Bredesen (D) | Van Hilleary (R) | Other / Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SurveyUSA[7] | October 26–28, 2002 | 726 (LV) | ± 3.8% | 48% | 44% | 8% |
County flipsDemocratic Hold Gain from Republican
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| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Phil Bredesen | 837,284 | 50.65% | +21.17% | |
| Republican | Van Hilleary | 786,803 | 47.59% | −21.03% | |
| Independent | Edwin C. Sanders | 7,749 | 0.47% | N/A | |
| Independent | Carl Two Feathers Whitaker | 5,308 | 0.32% | N/A | |
| Independent | John Jay Hooker | 4,577 | 0.28% | N/A | |
| Independent | David Gatchell | 2,991 | 0.18% | N/A | |
| Independent | Gabriel Givens | 1,591 | 0.10% | N/A | |
| Independent | Ray Ledford | 1,589 | 0.10% | N/A | |
| Independent | James E. Herren | 1,210 | 0.07% | N/A | |
| Independent | Charles V. Wilhoit, Jr. | 898 | 0.05% | N/A | |
| Independent | Marivuana Stout Leinoff | 645 | 0.04% | N/A | |
| Independent | Francis E. Waldron | 635 | 0.04% | N/A | |
| Independent | Ronny Simmons | 630 | 0.04% | N/A | |
| Independent | Robert O. Watson | 579 | 0.04% | N/A | |
| Independent | Basil Marceaux | 302 | 0.02% | N/A | |
| Write-ins | 376 | 0.02% | N/A | ||
| Total votes | 1,653,167 | 100.00% | |||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | |||||
Official campaign websites (archived)
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