2002 Colorado gubernatorial election

2002 Colorado gubernatorial election
← 1998 November 5, 2002 2006 →
	County results; Owens: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90%; Heath: 40–50% 50–60%
Governor before election; Bill Owens; Republican	Elected Governor ; Bill Owens; Republican

The 2002 Colorado gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2002, to elect the governor of Colorado. Bill Owens, the Republican incumbent, defeated Democratic nominee Rollie Heath to win a second term. Owen's win set the record for biggest win by a Republican in a Colorado gubernatorial election (Democrats won by larger margins in 1982, 1948, and 1928, with Billy Adams' 35 point blowout in that year being the greatest victory for a candidate of any party).^[1] As of 2026, this is the last time a Republican was elected Governor of Colorado and the only time in the past half-century that a Republican won a majority in the state.

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Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bill Owens (incumbent)	189,705	100.00
Total votes			189,705	100.00

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Rollie Heath	98,897	100.00
Total votes			98,897	100.00

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic
Key: P Participant A Absent N Not invited I Invited W Withdrawn
					Bill Owens	Rollie Heath
1	Sep. 7, 2002	Club 20 KJCT-TV	Jerry Groswald	C-SPAN	P	P
2	Sep. 24, 2002	City Club of Denver		C-SPAN	P	P
3	Oct. 17, 2002	KUSA (TV) The Denver Post	Jim Benemann	C-SPAN	P	P

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report^[3]	Safe R	October 31, 2002
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[4]	Safe R	November 4, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Bill Owens (inc.)	884,583	62.62%	+13.58%
	Democratic	Rollie Heath	475,373	33.65%	−14.77%
	Green	Ronald Forthofer	32,099	2.27%	–
	Libertarian	Ralph Shnelvar	20,547	1.45%	−0.23%
Majority			409,210	28.97%	+28.34%
Turnout			1,412,602
	Republican hold

2002 Colorado gubernatorial election

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

General election

Debates

Predictions

Results

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

References

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