2002 Oklahoma's 1st congressional district special election

The 2002 Oklahoma's 1st congressional district special election took place on January 8, 2002. Republican Congressman Steve Largent resigned from Congress to focus on his campaign for Governor,^[1] and a special election was scheduled for early 2002. The primary elections took place on December 11, 2001.^[2]

Quick facts Nominee, Party ...

2002 Oklahoma's 1st congressional district special election

← 2000 January 8, 2002 (2002-01-08) November 2002 →

Nominee John Sullivan Doug Dodd Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 61,694 50,850 Percentage 53.79% 44.34%

U.S. Representative before election Steve Largent Republican Elected U.S. Representative John Sullivan Republican

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Attorney Doug Dodd, a former member of the Tulsa School Board, won the Democratic primary in a landslide. In the Republican primary, though Cathy Keating, the First Lady of Oklahoma, entered the race as the early frontrunner,^[3] State Representative John Sullivan placed first in the primary by a wide margin. However, because no candidate won a majority of the vote, a runoff election was scheduled for January 8, 2002. Several weeks prior to the runoff, Keating withdrew from the race, which allowed the general election to be held on January 8.^[4]

In the general election, even though the district had voted for Republican President George W. Bush over Al Gore in 2000 by a wide margin, Sullivan defeated Dodd by a single-digit margin, winning 53.8 percent of the vote to Dodd's 44.3 percent.^[5]