Wikipedia

2002 United States Senate election in Montana

The 2002 United States Senate election in Montana was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Max Baucus won re-election to a fifth term.[1]

2002 United States Senate election in Montana
← 1996 November 5, 2002 2008 →
 
Nominee Max Baucus Mike Taylor
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 204,853 103,611
Percentage 62.74% 31.73%
County results
Baucus:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
Taylor:      40–50%      50–60%
U.S. senator before election

Max Baucus
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Max Baucus
Democratic

Democratic primary

edit

Candidates

edit

Results

edit
Democratic primary results[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Max Baucus (incumbent) 66,713 100.00%
Total votes 66,713 100.00%

Republican primary

edit

Candidates

edit

Results

edit
Republican primary results[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mike Taylor 48,169 60.16%
Republican Brad Johnson 14,252 17.80%
Republican John McDonald 10,116 12.63%
Republican Melvin Hanson 7,536 9.41%
Total votes 80,073 100.00%

General election

edit

Candidates

edit

Withdrew

edit

Campaign

edit

The 2002 Montana elections got national attention when Baucus's opponent, state senator Mike Taylor, accused Baucus of having implied that Taylor was gay in a campaign ad. The ad was paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, though designed by the Baucus campaign. The ad, which alleged that Taylor had embezzled funds from the cosmetology school he once owned, showed footage from the early 1980s of Taylor massaging another man's face while wearing a tight suit with an open shirt. Taylor dropped out of the race and Baucus won with 63 percent of the vote.[3]

Debates

edit

Predictions

edit
Source Ranking As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball[4] Safe D November 4, 2002

Results

edit
General election results[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Max Baucus (incumbent) 204,853 62.74% +13.18%
Republican Mike Taylor 103,611 31.73% −12.96%
Libertarian Stan Jones 10,420 3.19% N/A
Green Bob Kelleher 7,653 2.34% N/A
Total votes 326,537 100.00% N/A
Democratic hold

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 7, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 11, 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ Gransbery, Jim (October 10, 2002). "Taylor quits Senate race in Montana". Billings Gazette. Archived from the original on December 5, 2006. Retrieved January 5, 2007.
  4. ^ "Senate Races". www.centerforpolitics.org. November 4, 2002. Archived from the original on November 18, 2002. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  5. ^ "2002 ELECTION STATISTICS". Clerk.house.gov. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2002_United_States_Senate_election_in_Montana&oldid=1234767465"