448,143 441,277 43.3% 42.6% Start date 2002 | 441,277 146,200 42.6% 14.1% | |
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Winner Brad Henry | ||
The Oklahoma gubernatorial election of 2002 was held on November 5, 2002, and was a race for the Governor of Oklahoma. Democrat Brad Henry won the election with 43 percent of the vote, beating Republican Steve Largent and conservative independent Gary Richardson.
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Henry's narrow win has been attributed to Richardson and Largent's split of the conservative vote and the inclusion of a cockfighting ban on the ballot, an issue which brought cockfighting supporters from Southeastern Oklahoma, a traditional Democratic stronghold that strongly supported Henry, out to vote.
Background
Though Democrats had dominated state politics for most of Oklahoma's history, the Oklahoma Republican Party had made historic gains, including five of the state's six Congressional seats.
Results
This election was extremely close, with Henry prevailing by just 6,866 votes or 0.6%. Under Oklahoma Law if the margin victory is less than one percent but greater than half a percent the losing candidate can request a recount that their campaign has to pay for. Largent ultimately decided against it, considering that because Henry won by 6,866 votes the possibility of him prevailing were extremely difficult. On November 23, Largent officially conceded defeat. Two days later on November 25, the Secretary of State of Oklahoma, Kay Dudley certified the results, declaring Henry the governor elect.