2002 United States Senate election in Tennessee
November 5, 2002
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| Turnout | 50.40% 12.37 pp | ||||||||||||||||
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Alexander: 40–50% 50–60% 60—70% 70–80% Clement: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Tennessee |
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| Government |
The 2002 United States Senate election in Tennessee was held on November 5, 2002, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Tennessee. Incumbent Republican Senator Fred Thompson announced that he would not seek re-election. Former Republican Governor Lamar Alexander won the open seat, defeating Democratic Congressman Bob Clement with 54.3% of the vote.
With this election, Alexander became the first Tennessean to be popularly elected both governor and senator. At the age of 62, Alexander also became the oldest elected freshman US senator from Tennessee since Democrat Lawrence D. Tyson in 1924, which he held until 2018 when Marsha Blackburn surpassed him at the age of 66.