2002 California gubernatorial election
The 2002 California gubernatorial election was an election that occurred on November 5, 2002. Democrat Gray Davis defeated Republican Bill Simon by 5% and was re-elected to a second four-year term as Governor of California. Davis would be recalled less than a year into his next term.
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| Turnout | 36.05% 5.38pp | ||||||||||||||||||||
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County results Davis: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% Simon: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in California |
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The 2002 gubernatorial primary occurred in March 2002. Gray Davis faced no major competitor in the primary and won the nomination. Simon defeated former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan in the Republican primary. Gray Davis ran a series of negative ads against Riordan in the primary. Riordan was seen as a moderate and early state polls showed him defeating Gray Davis in the general election. This election is the last time that a gubernatorial candidate was elected Governor of California by a single-digit margin.