2002 United States Senate election in Massachusetts

The 2002 United States Senate election in Massachusetts took place on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator John Kerry won re-election to a fourth term against Libertarian Michael Cloud, with no Republican filing to run.

2002 United States Senate election in Massachusetts

← 1996 November 5, 2002 2008 →
 
Nominee John Kerry Michael Cloud
Party Democratic Libertarian
Popular vote 1,605,976 369,807
Percentage 80.03% 18.43%

Kerry:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%

U.S. senator before election

John Kerry
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

John Kerry
Democratic

The lack of a Republican Party candidate caused Cloud to receive the largest percentage of votes for a U.S. Senate candidate in the Libertarian Party's history at that time, though this record has since been eclipsed by Joe Miller in Alaska in 2016 and Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. in Arkansas in 2020. Cloud also won the largest number of raw votes for a Libertarian candidate at the time, since eclipsed by Harrington.

Kerry's support for the invasion of Iraq also prompted a late write-in challenge by anti-war candidate Randall Forsberg.

Democratic primary

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Democratic primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic John F. Kerry (Incumbent) 615,517 99.35%
Write-in 3,979 0.65%
Total votes 619,496 100.00%

General election

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Candidates

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  • Michael Cloud (Libertarian)
  • Randall Forsberg, anti-war activist (Independent, write-in)
  • John Kerry, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1985 (Democratic)

Predictions

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Source Ranking As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball[1] Safe D November 4, 2002

Results

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2002 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts[2][3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic John Kerry (incumbent) 1,605,976 80.03%  27.29
Libertarian Michael Cloud 369,807 18.43% N/A
Independent Randall Forsberg (write-in) 24,898 1.24% N/A
Write-in 6,077 0.30%  0.24
Total votes 2,006,758 100.00%

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Senate Races". www.centerforpolitics.org. November 4, 2002. Archived from the original on November 18, 2002. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  2. ^ "PD43+ >> 2002 U.S. Senate General Election". Massachusetts Elections Division. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  3. ^ Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives (May 1, 2003). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 2002". U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 19.
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