| Election Name: | 2002 United States Senate election in Minnesota |
| Country: | Minnesota |
| Flag Image: | File:Flag of Minnesota (1983-2024).svg |
| Flag Year: | 1983 |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1996 United States Senate election in Minnesota |
| Previous Year: | 1996 |
| Next Election: | 2008 United States Senate election in Minnesota |
| Next Year: | 2008 |
| Election Date: | November 5, 2002 |
| Image1: | Norm Coleman, official portrait (108th Congress).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Norm Coleman |
| Party1: | Republican Party of Minnesota |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,116,697 |
| Percentage1: | 49.53% |
| Nominee2: | Walter Mondale |
| Party2: | Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,067,246 |
| Percentage2: | 47.34% |
| Map Size: | 270px |
| U.S. Senator | |
| Before Election: | Dean Barkley |
| Before Party: | Independence Party (Minnesota) |
| After Election: | Norm Coleman |
| After Party: | Republican Party of Minnesota |
The 2002 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Senator Paul Wellstone was running for a third term but died in a plane crash eleven days before the election. The Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) quickly chose former Vice President and 1984 presidential nominee Walter Mondale to replace Wellstone on the ballot. Mondale had previously held the seat from 1964 to 1976, resigning to assume the vice presidency. He narrowly lost to Republican Norm Coleman, the former mayor of Saint Paul. The day before the election, Governor Jesse Ventura appointed the 1996 Independence Party candidate, Dean Barkley, to serve the remainder of Wellstone's term.[1]
This is the only time to date since 1994 that Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in Minnesota. This is also the last time in a midterm election that the party controlling the White House flipped a Senate seat in a state they did not win in the preceding presidential election. This marked the first election that Mondale had lost in Minnesota, as he had even narrowly carried it against Ronald Reagan in his landslide defeat in the 1984 United States presidential election, where he lost 49 states, winning only Minnesota and the District of Columbia. As a result of his defeat in this election, Mondale became the first, and so far only, major-party candidate in American history to have lost a general election in every single state. As of, this is the last time a Republican won a U.S. Senate election in Minnesota.
Paul Wellstone defeated Dick Franson 93% to 5%.
Following Wellstone's death 11 days prior to Election Day, the DFL Party nominated Walter Mondale as its replacement candidate.
Norm Coleman defeated Jack Shepard 95% to 5%.
* Wellstone appeared on the ballot despite his death (he had been replaced by Mondale)
Mondale campaigned on his experience, and promised more education for students, more safety for seniors, and to "continue Wellstone's fight for people". Coleman campaigned on more jobs, less taxes, a promise of "a brighter future for Minnesota", and to "help change the tone in Washington D.C."[2]
At the time of his death, Wellstone was slightly ahead in the polls. After Mondale was chosen as the DFL candidate, he led 47% to 39% in a poll taken a few days before the election.[3]
Four days after Wellstone's death, a televised public memorial drew significant backlash for a tone that was widely characterized as more appropriate for a "political rally"[4] —a story that dominated the final days before the election.
Early on Election Day, Mondale was leading, but by nightfall Coleman pulled ahead, winning by 2.2%.[5] Many observers, including the event's host, former St. Paul mayor George Latimer, blamed the memorial's tone for the election result.[6]
After Coleman was declared the winner, Mondale conceded and said in his speech: "At the end of what will be my last campaign, I want to say to Minnesota, you always treated me well, you always listened to me". His loss, combined with his landslide defeat in the United States presidential election in 1984, made him the only American major-party candidate to have lost a general election in every state. Although George McGovern had also lost 49 states in the 1972 presidential election and lost the Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary in 1984, he never lost a general election in Massachusetts. Although Mondale did not seek office again, he remained active politically.
Coleman was sworn in on January 3, 2003. He served one term in the United States Senate, losing to Al Franken by a very narrow margin of just 312 votes and 0.01% in the 2008 election.