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The 2002 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Phil Gramm decided to retire, instead of seeking a fourth term. State Attorney General Republican John Cornyn won the open seat. This was the first open-seat election since 1984.
Map legend
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Victor M. Morales | 317,048 | 33.2 | |
| Democratic | Ron Kirk | 316,052 | 33.1 | |
| Democratic | Ken Bentsen | 255,501 | 26.8 | |
| Democratic | Gene Kelly | 44,038 | 4.6 | |
| Democratic | Ed Cunningham | 22,016 | 2.3 | |
| Total votes | 954,655 | 100.0 | ||
Map legend
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ron Kirk | 370,878 | 59.8 | |
| Democratic | Victor M. Morales | 249,423 | 40.2 | |
| Total votes | 620,301 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | John Cornyn | 478,825 | 77.3 | |
| Republican | Bruce Rusty Lang | 46,907 | 7.6 | |
| Republican | Douglas Deffenbaugh | 43,611 | 7.0 | |
| Republican | Dudley F. Mooney | 32,202 | 5.2 | |
| Republican | Lawrence Cranberg | 17,757 | 2.9 | |
| Total votes | 619,302 | 100.0 | ||
Despite the fact that Texas is a red state, Kirk ran on a socially progressive platform: supporting abortion rights and opposing Bush judicial nominee Priscilla Richman, although Kirk was a former George W. Bush supporter.[1] He also supported increases in defense spending, such as Bush's proposed $48 billion increase in military spending, except for the money Bush wanted to use for missile defense.[2] Cornyn was endorsed by U.S. President and former Governor George W. Bush, while Kirk had the support of former San Antonio mayor Henry Cisneros, former Governor Ann Richards and former U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen.[3][4]
Cornyn was criticized for taking campaign money from Enron and other controversial companies.[5] And although other Democrats have seized on the issue, Kirk is well-entrenched in the Dallas business community, and his wife resigned from two private-sector jobs that created potential conflicts of interest for Kirk while he was mayor.[6]
An October Dallas Morning News poll had Cornyn leading 47% to 37%.[7] A record $18 million was spent in the election.[8]
| No. | Date | Host | Moderator | Link | Republican | Democratic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key: P Participant A Absent N Not invited I Invited W Withdrawn |
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| John Cornyn | Ron Kirk | |||||
| 1 | Oct. 18, 2002 | Houston Chronicle KHOU |
Greg Hurst | C-SPAN | P | P |
| 2 | Oct. 23, 2002 | Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation KERA-TV Texas Association of Broadcasters Texas Monthly The Dallas Morning News TXCN Univision WFAA |
John McCaa | C-SPAN | P | P |
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[9] | Lean R | November 4, 2002 |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size[a] |
Margin of error |
John Cornyn (R) |
Ron Kirk (D) |
Other / Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SurveyUSA | October 29–31, 2002 | 683 (LV) | ± 3.9% | 53% | 45% | 2% |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | John Cornyn | 2,496,243 | 55.30% | +0.52% | |
| Democratic | Ron Kirk | 1,955,758 | 43.33% | -0.61% | |
| Libertarian | Scott Jameson | 35,538 | 0.79% | -0.14% | |
| Green | Roy Williams | 25,051 | 0.55% | N/A | |
| Write-in | James W. Wright | 1,422 | 0.03% | N/A | |
| Majority | 540,485 | 11.97% | +1.13% | ||
| Turnout | 4,514,012 | ||||
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