Texas gubernatorial election, 2002
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In the Texas gubernatorial election of 2002, held on November 5, 2002, Republican incumbent Rick Perry defeated Democrat Tony Sanchez to win his first full term.
In the March 12, 2002 primary elections, Rick Perry won unopposed while Tony Sanchez overcame Dan Morales and two minor candidates.[1]
Results
On November 5, 2002, Rick Perry won re-election to the office of Governor of Texas. He defeated Tony Sanchez, Jeff Daiell, Rahul Mahajan, Elaine Eure Henderson and Earl W. (Bill) O'Neil in the general election.
| Governor of Texas, 2002 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Rick Perry Incumbent |
57.8% | 2,632,591 | |
| Democratic | Tony Sanchez | 40% | 1,819,798 | |
| Libertarian | Jeff Daiell | 1.5% | 66,720 | |
| Green | Rahul Mahajan | 0.7% | 32,187 | |
| Write-In | Elaine Eure Henderson | 0% | 1,715 | |
| Write-In | Earl W. (Bill) O'Neil | 0% | 976 | |
| Total Votes | 4,553,987 | |||
| Election results via Texas Secretary of State. | ||||
Race background
Rick Perry, having assumed the office of governor on December 21, 2000 after George W. Bush's election as President, was running for his first full term.[2]. After running unopposed in the Republican primary, Perry found himself facing Democratic businessman Tony Sanchez in the general.[3] While Perry had run for and won statewide office both as Agriculture Commissioner and Lieutenant Governor, Sanchez had built a fortune in diverse private business interests, including oil and gas, banking and venture capital.[4][5]
Though there were two debates and a myriad of television ads from both major candidates, personal issues seemed to take a higher priority than those of policy.[6][7] Perry and Sanchez spent a great deal of their time and money on ads, of which the highlight was a series of Perry campaign ads that attempted to tie drug dealers, money laundering and a federal agent's death to a bank owned by Sanchez and his family in the 1980s.[7] Both candidates had deep treasuries to fund these volleys of ads: Perry raised over $20 million while the Sanchez campaign boasted a $66 million war chest.[8][9] Over $60 million of the Sanchez campaign's money, however, had come from their candidate's own contributions.[9]
In the event, Sanchez never pulled even with Perry, who polled strongly among white voters and won by a significant margin.[7]
Candidates
General election
Rick Perry (incumbent) - Republican
Tony Sanchez - Democrat
Jeff Daiell - Libertarian
Rahul Mahajan - Green
Elaine Eure Henderson (write-in) - Independent
- Earl W. (Bill) O'Neil (write-in) - Independent
| Primary election candidates - Click "show" | |
|---|---|
Democratic
Republican
| |
Primaries
Democratic
| 2002 Race for Governor - Democrat Primary[1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
 Tony Sanchez (D)
|
60.73% | |||
| Dan Morales (D) | 32.97% | |||
| Bill Lyon (D) | 4.28% | |||
| John Worldpeace (D) | 2.00% | |||
| Total votes | 1,003,388 | |||
Republican
| 2002 Race for Governor - Republican Primary[1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
| Rick Perry (R)
|
100.00% | |||
| Total votes | 620,463 | |||
See also
External links
- Texas Office of the Secretary of State, Elections Division
- C-SPAN Video Library, Texas Gubernatorial Debate, October 9, 2002
- Texas Governor at RealClearPolitics.com
- Rick Perry at PolitiFact
Candidate pages
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Office of the Secretary of State Election History, "Race Summary Report," accessed November 20, 2013
- ↑ Office of the Governor, "Texas Governor Rick Perry," November 21, 2013
- ↑ Time, "Has a Democrat Got a Chance of Becoming Governor of Texas?" November 21, 2013
- ↑ Texans for Rick Perry, "About," November 21, 2013
- ↑ Library of Congress Election 2002 Web Archive Collection, "Tony Sanchez: Biography," November 21, 2013
- ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Texas Governor's Race Debates: A History," November 21, 2013
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 New York Times, "In Texas, Republican Who Inherited Top Job Is the Winner Outright," November 21, 2013
- ↑ Follow the Money, "Texas 2002, Candidates, Rick Perry," November 21, 2013
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Follow the Money, "Texas 2002, Candidates, Tony Sanchez," November 21, 2013
- ↑ The Austin Chronicle, "Dan Morales v. Harry Potter," November 21, 2013
