Arizona gubernatorial election, 2002

Arizona gubernatorial election, 2002

← 1998 November 5, 2002 2006 →
Nominee Janet Napolitano Matt Salmon Richard D. Mahoney Party Democratic Republican Independent Popular vote 566,284 554,465 84,947 Percentage 46.19% 45.22% 6.93%
Election results by county
Governor before election Jane Dee Hull Republican Elected Governor Janet Napolitano Democratic

Jane Dee Hull
Republican

Janet Napolitano
Democratic

The 2002 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 2002. Democratic Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano defeated Republican former Representative Matt Salmon for the office of Governor of Arizona.

The election was extremely close: Napolitano won by just 11,819 votes out of 1,226,111 cast, the closest gubernatorial election in Arizona in many years. Under Arizonan law, the losing candidate may request a recount, for which that candidate must pay, if the margin of victory is less than one percent but greater than half of one percent. In 2002, the margin of victory in 2002 was 0.97%, barely allowing a recount.

It soon became apparent that Napolitano had won the election and would be the next Governor of Arizona. Salmon acknowledged that the chance of his prevailing in a recount was extremely small and decided not to ask for one (recounts never see a swing over 1,000 votes; he was losing by over 10,000). He officially called Napolitano on November 17 and congratulated her on her victory.

On November 20, Arizona Secretary of State Betsey Bayless certified the results of the election and declared Napolitano the governor-elect.