2002 United States Senate election in Texas

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.

2002 United States Senate election in Texas

← 1996 November 5, 2002 2008 →

Nominee John Cornyn Ron Kirk Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 2,496,243 1,955,758 Percentage 55.30% 43.33%

County results Cornyn:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Kirk:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

U.S. senator before election Phil Gramm Republican Elected U.S. Senator John Cornyn Republican

Democratic primary

• Ron Kirk, Mayor of Dallas
• Victor Morales, Teacher, Navy Veteran, 1996 Senate nominee
• Ken Bentsen Jr., U.S. representative, nephew of former US Senator Lloyd Bentsen

Primary

 

Democratic primary results by county.

Map legend

•   Kirk—60–70%
•   Kirk—50–60%
•   Kirk—40–50%
•   Kirk—30–40%
•   Kirk—20–30%
•   Morales—70–80%
•   Morales—60–70%
•   Morales—50–60%
•   Morales—40–50%
•   Morales—30–40%
•   Bentsen—70–80%
•   Bentsen—60–70%
•   Bentsen—50–60%
•   Bentsen—40–50%
•   Bentsen—30–40%
•   Morales-Bentsen tie—30–40%
•   Kirk-Bentsen tie—32.08%
•   No vote

Democratic primary results

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

Source: OurCampaigns.com, TX US Senate - D Primary

Runoff

 

Democratic runoff results by county.

Map legend

•   Kirk—80–90%
•   Kirk—70–80%
•   Kirk—60–70%
•   Kirk—50–60%
•   Morales—80–90%
•   Morales—70–80%
•   Morales—60–70%
•   Morales—50–60%
•   tie—50%
•   No vote

Democratic runoff results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ron Kirk	370,878	59.8
	Democratic	Victor M. Morales	249,423	40.2
Total votes			620,301	100.0

Source: OurCampaigns.com, TX US Senate - D Runoff

Republican primary

• John Cornyn, Attorney General of Texas

Primary

Republican primary results

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

Source: OurCampaigns.com, TX US Senate - R Primary

General election

Campaign

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]

Debates

2002 United States Senate election in Texas debates

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					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

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[9]	Lean R	November 4, 2002

Polling

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%

Results

General election results^[10]

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

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Atascosa (Largest city: Pleasanton)
• Bastrop (Largest city: Elgin)
• Brewster (Largest city: Alpine)
• Cottle (Largest city: Paducah)
• Fannin (Largest city: Bonham)
• Galveston (Largest city: Galveston)
• Knox (Largest city: Munday)
• Milam (Largest city: Rockdale)
• Palo Pinto (Largest city: Mineral Wells)
• Red River (Largest city: Clarksville)
• Stonewall (Largest city: Aspermont)
• Trinity (Largest city: Trinity)
• Waller (Largest city: Hempstead)
• Robertson (Largest city: Hearne)
• Bexar (largest city: San Antonio)
• Calhoun (largest city: Port Lavaca)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Pecos (Largest city: Fort Stockton)
• San Augustine (Largest city: San Augustine)
• San Patricio (Largest city: Portland)
• Hudspeth (Largest city: Fort Hancock)
• Refugio (Largest city: Refugio)
• Dallas (largest city: Dallas)

See also

• 2002 United States Senate election

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear

References

1. "2002 VOTER'S GUIDE: / U.S. Senate / Cornyn vs. Kirk: More than U.S. Senate seat at stake here". Houston Chronicle. October 27, 2002. p. H.2. ProQuest 395977920.
2. Newsbank^{[dead link]}
3. Parrott, Susan (April 8, 2002). "Kirk looks ahead to race with Cornyn". Plainview Herald. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
4. Gott, Natalie (April 4, 2002). "Richards campaigns with Kirk in Austin". Midland Reporter-Telegram. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
5. Robinson, Clay; Graves, Rachel (September 25, 2002). "Kirk, Cornyn exchange barbs over Enron, fund raising". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
6. Robinson, Clay (August 20, 2002). "Wife's lucrative board job issue in Kirk's Senate bid". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
7. Cienski, Jan (October 31, 2002). "Ethnicity, money are the recipe for 'Dream Team': Battle for Texas: Democrats court blacks, Hispanics in Republican state". National Post. Don Mills, Ont. p. A17. ProQuest 330127613.
8. "Summary". OpenSecrets.
9. . www.centerforpolitics.org. November 4, 2002. Archived from the original on November 18, 2002. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
10. "2002 ELECTION STATISTICS".