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The United States House of Representatives special election in Hawaii's 2nd congressional district, 2002-2003 occurred on November 30, 2002 and January 4, 2003 to select the successor to Patsy Mink (D) who had died from Pneumonia. In accordance with Hawaiian state law, the special election was officially nonpartisan.
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Background
On August 30, 2002, Mink was hospitalized in Honolulu's Straub Clinic and Hospital with complications from chickenpox. Her condition steadily worsened, and on September 28, 2002, Mink died in Honolulu of viral pneumonia. The week prior to her untimely death, she had won renomination. By this point, it was too late to remove her name from the general election ballot. On November 5, 2002, Mink was posthumously re-elected over state Representative Bob McDermott (R). As a result, this triggered a special election to fill the vacancy. In accordance with Hawaiian law the election was non-partisan and conducted in two rounds, the first to fill the vacancy during the 107th United States Congress and the second for the new term beginning on January 3, 2003.
First Round (November 30, 2002)
The two most notable candidates to compete in the first round were then-state representative and former state House Majority Leader Ed Case and John Mink, the former husband of the late Congresswoman. Despite the latter's connections to the district's prior Representative, Case would win the election with fifty-one percent of the vote.
Second Round (January 3, 2003)
The now freshman incumbent Case immediately ran for reelection in the early January 2003 round for the Second district seat in the 108th Congress, going up against more than three dozen other candidates. Other Democrats included state Senators Matt Matsunaga and Colleen Hanabusa. Republicans included state Representatives Barbara Marumoto and Bob C. McDermott, and former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi. Case won this election with 43 percent of the vote.