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2002 United States Senate election in Alabama
	County results; Sessions: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%; Parker: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90%
U.S. senator before election; Jeff Sessions; Republican	Elected U.S. Senator ; Jeff Sessions; Republican

The 2002 United States Senate election in Alabama was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions won re-election to a second term.^[1] Sessions became the first Republican to be elected to two full terms to the Senate from the state. As of 2022, this is the most recent Senate election in Alabama in which Colbert and Lawrence counties voted for the Democratic candidate.

Background

In the 1968 presidential election, Alabama supported native son and American Independent Party candidate George Wallace over both Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. Wallace was the official Democratic candidate in Alabama, while Humphrey was listed as the "National Democratic".^[2] In 1976, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter from Georgia carried the state, the region, and the nation, but Democratic control of the region slipped after that.

Since 1980, conservative Alabama voters have increasingly voted for Republican candidates at the federal level, especially in presidential elections. By contrast, Democratic candidates have been elected to many state-level offices and comprised a longstanding majority in the Alabama Legislature.

Republican primary

Candidates

Jeff Sessions, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1997

Sessions was not challenged in the primary.^[3]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Julian L. McPhillips, Attorney and candidate for Attorney General in 1978^[4]
Susan Parker, Alabama State Auditor
Wayne Sowell, candidate for governor in 1998 and candidate for the U.S. House in 2000

Results

Original on June 4^[5]

Democratic primary results^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Susan Parker	190,978	47.99%
	Democratic	Julian L. McPhillips	170,222	42.78%
	Democratic	Wayne Sowell	36,719	9.23%
Total votes			397,919	100.00%

McPhillips won many counties in the southern part of the state, but Parker won the most counties. Sowell endorsed Parker for the runoff.

Runoff on June 25

Democratic primary runoff results^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Susan Parker	176,708	65.15%
	Democratic	Julian L. McPhillips	94,540	34.85%
Total votes			271,248	100.00%

General election

Candidates

Jeff Allen (L)
Susan Parker (D), Alabama State Auditor
Jeff Sessions (R), Incumbent U.S. Senator

Debates

Complete video of debate, October 20, 2002

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[8]	Safe R	November 4, 2002

Results

2002 United States Senate election, Alabama^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jeff Sessions (incumbent)	792,561	58.58%	+6.13%
	Democratic	Susan Parker	538,878	39.83%	−5.63%
	Libertarian	Jeff Allen	20,234	1.50%	+0.06%
	Write-in		1,350	0.10%	+0.06%
Majority			253,683	18.75%
Turnout			1,353,023
	Republican hold		Swing