2002Flipped from RepublicanFinal results
2002 election for Tennessee Governor
Governor · Tennessee
Phil Bredesen (D) won with 51.6% of the vote, defeating Van Hilleary (R) by 3.1 points, a seat Republicans won last time.
Phil BredesenDemocrat · winner
51.6%837,284
Van HillearyRepublican
48.4%786,803
1,624,087 votes
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 2002
Races before and after
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET