2002 United States Senate election in South Dakota
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
County results Johnson: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Thune: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
.jpg){kind=link}
| Elections in South Dakota |
|---|
The 2002 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Johnson narrowly won re-election to a second term over Republican John Thune by a margin of 524 votes, or 0.15%. This made the election the closest race of the 2002 Senate election cycle.
This was one of the four Democratic-held Senate seats up for election in a state that George W. Bush won in the 2000 presidential election.
Thune later narrowly won South Dakota's other U.S. Senate seat in 2004, and was re-elected in 2010, 2016, and 2022 in uncompetitive elections. He would become the Senate Majority Leader after the 2024 elections.