The 2002 congressional elections in Minnesota were held on November 5, 2002 to determine who would represent the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. Minnesota had eight seats in the House, and the 2002 congressional election was the first held pursuant to the apportionment made according to the

2000 United States Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...

. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected served in the

108th Congress The 108th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2005, during ...

from January 3, 2003 until January 3, 2005. The election coincided with a U.S. Senate election and a

gubernatorial election A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. DFLer

Bill Luther William Paul Luther (born June 27, 1945) is an American politician and lawyer from Minnesota. Luther was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) member of the United States House of Representatives representing Minnesota's 6th congressional distr ...

, formerly of the 6th congressional district, who was redistricted into the 2nd congressional district, was the only incumbent in Minnesota's House delegation who failed to win reelection.

Overview

District 1

Incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Gil Gutknecht Gilbert William Gutknecht Jr. (born March 20, 1951) is an American politician. Gutknecht was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives first elected in 1994 to represent Minnesota's 1st congressional district. Gutknec ...

, who had represented Minnesota's 1st congressional district since 1994, ran against Steve Andreasen of the DFL and Greg Mikkelson of the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

. Gutknecht easily won a fifth term, defeating second-place Pomeroy by a landslide 26.85 percent margin, as Mikkelson finished at a very distant third.

DFL primary

Candidates

* Steve Andreasen, former Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control on the National Security Council (1993-2001)

Results

Green primary

Candidates

* Greg Mikkelson

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

, incumbent U.S. Representative since 1994

Results

General election

Results

District 2

In the reapportionment that occurred in consequence of the

, Mark Kennedy, the incumbent

from the

Minnesota's 2nd congressional district Minnesota's 2nd congressional district (current) covers the south Twin Cities metro area and contains all of Scott, Dakota, Goodhue, and Wabasha counties. It also contains part of northern and eastern Rice County including the city of Nort ...

, was redistricted into the 6th congressional district, while

, the incumbent DFLer from the 6th congressional district was redistricted into the 2nd congressional district. Thus, Luther was forced to run in the new congressional district 2 in the 2002 election, while Kennedy ran in the new congressional district 6. Luther, who was first elected to Congress in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

, was unchallenged in the DFL primary. However, in the general election race against Republican challenger John Kline, the more conservative composition of the new district worked against Luther. Luther's campaign was further harmed by political fallout that was created when Samuel Garst, a Luther campaign staffer, entered the race on the "No New Taxes" line in an attempt to use a false flag to split the conservative vote. In the end, Garst was only able to secure 4.33 percent of the vote, and the political damage to Luther contributed to Kline winning the election by a margin of more than 11 percent.

DFL primary

Candidates

, incumbent U.S. Representative since 1995

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

* John Kline, retired

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

(

USMC The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...

)

Results

General election

Results

District 3

Incumbent

Jim Ramstad James Marvin Ramstad (May 6, 1946 – November 5, 2020) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Minnesota's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2009. A member of the Republican Part ...

, who was first elected in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, defeated DFL challenger Darryl Stanton, and won election to his seventh term in Congress, by a landslide 44.14 percent margin.

DFL primary

Candidates

* Darryl Stanton

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

, incumbent U.S. Representative since 1991

Results

General election

Results

District 4

Incumbent DFLer

Betty McCollum Betty Louise McCollum (born July 12, 1954) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for , serving since 2001. She is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). McCollum's district centers on St. Paul, Minnesota's ...

, who was first elected in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, faced off against Clyde Billington of the

Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the oldest active political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Minnesota Republican Party’s platform is relatively moderate. The party’s main issues are economic growth, education, healthcare, civi ...

and Scott J. Raskiewicz of the

Green Party of Minnesota The Green Party of Minnesota is a green political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Green Party of the United States. History The Minnesota Greens Confederation, founded 1990–91, fostered the development of loca ...

. Defeating Billington by a comfortable 28 percent margin, McCollum easily won her second term in Congress, as Raskiewicz finished a very distant third.

DFL primary

Candidates

, incumbent U.S. Representative since 2001

Results

Green primary

Candidates

* Scott J. Raskiewicz

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

* Clyde Billington

Results

General election

Results

District 5

Incumbent DFLer

Martin Sabo Martin Olav Sabo (February 28, 1938 – March 13, 2016) was an American politician who served as United States Representative for , which includes Minneapolis; the district is one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota. Early life and e ...

, who was first elected in 1978, had no difficulty winning his 13th term in Congress, defeating

challenger Daniel Nielsen Mathias by a margin of just over 41 percent, while

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

candidate Tim Davis finished a distant third.

DFL primary

Candidates

Martin Olav Sabo Martin Olav Sabo (February 28, 1938 – March 13, 2016) was an American politician who served as United States Representative for , which includes Minneapolis; the district is one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota. Early life and e ...

, incumbent U.S. Representative since 1979

Results

Green primary

Candidates

* Tim Davis

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

* Daniel Nielsen Mathias

Results

General election

Results

District 6

In the reapportionment that occurred in consequence of the

, Mark Kennedy, the incumbent

from the

, was redistricted into the 6th congressional district, while

, the incumbent DFLer from the 6th congressional district was redistricted into the 2nd congressional district. Thus, Kennedy was forced to run in the new congressional district 6 in the 2002 election, while Luther ran in the new congressional district 2. Kennedy, who was first elected in

, encountered little difficulty in winning his second term in Congress, defeating DFL challenger Janet Robert by a landslide margin of 22.28 percent, while Independence Party candidate Dan Becker finished a distant third.

DFL primary

Candidates

* Janet Robert

Results

Independence primary

Candidates

* Dan Becker

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

* Mark R. Kennedy, incumbent U.S. Representative since 2001

Results

General election

Results

District 7

Incumbent DFLer

Collin Peterson Collin Clark Peterson (born June 29, 1944) is an American accountant and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1991 to 2021. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, or the DFL. he was chairman of the Ho ...

, who was first elected in

, faced no difficulty winning his eighth term in Congress, defeating

challenger Dan Stevens by a landslide 30.63 percent margin.

DFL primary

Candidates

* Collin C. Peterson, incumbent U.S. Representative since 1991

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

* Dan Stevens

Results

General election

Results

District 8

Incumbent DFLer

Jim Oberstar James Louis Oberstar (September 10, 1934 – May 3, 2014) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2011. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, he represented nor ...

, who was first elected in 1974, had no difficulty winning his 15th term in Congress, defeating

challenger Bob Lemen by a margin of more than 37 percent.

DFL primary

Candidates

* James L. Oberstar, incumbent U.S. Representative since 1975

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

* Bob Lemen * Warren L. Nelson

Results

General election

Results

References

{{United States elections, 2002 2002

2002 Minnesota elections