2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election

2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election
	County results; Sanford: 50–60% 60–70%; Hodges: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%
Governor before election; Jim Hodges; Democratic	Elected Governor ; Mark Sanford; Republican

The 2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2002, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Mark Sanford, the Republican nominee, defeated incumbent Democratic governor Jim Hodges to become the 115th governor of South Carolina. Hodges became only the third incumbent governor and the first Democratic governor in South Carolina history to lose re-election. With Sanford's election, Republicans won a trifecta in the state for the first time since 1877.

Democratic primary

Governor Jim Hodges faced no opposition from South Carolina Democrats and avoided a primary election.

Republican primary

The South Carolina Republican Party held their primary on June 11, 2002, and the runoff on June 25, 2002. The contest became a race between Lieutenant Governor Bob Peeler from the Upstate and Mark Sanford, a former representative of the 1st congressional district in the Lowcountry. Sanford received the support of the candidates eliminated from the runoff election and easily defeated Peeler.

Republican primary results^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mark Sanford	122,143	38.62
	Republican	Bob Peeler	119,026	37.64
	Republican	Charlie Condon	49,469	15.64
	Republican	Ken Wingate	12,366	3.91
	Republican	Jim Miles	8,566	2.71
	Republican	Reb Sutherland	2,770	0.88
	Republican	Bill Branton	1,915	0.61
Total votes			316,255	100

Republican primary runoff results^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mark Sanford	183,820	60.13
	Republican	Bob Peeler	121,881	39.87
Total votes			305,701	100

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report^[2]	Tossup	October 31, 2002
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[3]	Lean R (flip)	November 4, 2002

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Margin of error	Jim Hodges (D)	Mark Sanford (R)	Other / Undecided
SurveyUSA^[4]	November 1–3, 2002	764 (LV)	± 3.6%	52%	46%	2%

Results

The general election was held on November 5, 2002, and Mark Sanford was elected as the next governor of South Carolina. Turnout was higher than in the previous gubernatorial election because of the competitive nature of the race between the two parties. Activist and author Kevin Alexander Gray was a gubernatorial candidate representing the South Carolina United Citizens’ Party & Green Party. He did not have the required signatures to be on the ballot, and consequently ran as a write-in candidate.^[5]

South Carolina gubernatorial election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Mark Sanford	585,422	52.85	+7.6
	Democratic	Jim Hodges (incumbent)	521,140	47.05	−6.3
	Write-in		1,163	0.1	-0.1
Majority			64,282	5.9	−2.1
Turnout			1,107,725	54.1	+1.1
	Republican gain from Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Abbeville (largest city: Abbeville)
Georgetown (largest city: Murrells Inlet)
Lancaster (largest city: Lancaster)
Barnwell (largest city: Barnwell)
Berkeley (largest city: Goose Creek)
Horry (largest town: Myrtle Beach)
Dorchester (largest city: North Charleston)
Edgefield (largest city: Edgefield)
Florence (largest city: Florence)
Greenwood (largest city: Greenwood)
Kershaw (largest city: Cmaden)
Laurens (largest city: Laurens)
Newberry (largest city: Newberry)
Saluda (largest city: Saluda)

2002 South Carolina gubernatorial election map, by percentile by county
  65+% won by Sanford

  60%-64% won by Sanford

  55%-59% won by Sanford

  50%-54% won by Sanford

  50%-54% won by Hodges

  55%-59% won by Hodges

  60%-64% won by Hodges

  65+% won by Hodges

Notes

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

References

^ ^a ^b "Election Returns from Primaries and General Elections (Statewide): | SCVotes.org". Archived from the original on November 3, 2010. Retrieved October 31, 2010.
^ "Governor Updated October 31, 2002 | The Cook Political Report". The Cook Political Report. October 31, 2002. Archived from the original on December 8, 2002. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
^ "Governors Races". www.centerforpolitics.org. November 4, 2002. Archived from the original on December 12, 2002. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
^ SurveyUSA
^ O'Cain, Susan (July 16, 2002). "Gray to run as write in candidate". WLTX-TV. Retrieved June 1, 2023.