2002Final results
2002 election for Florida's 18th District
U.S. House · Florida
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) won with 69.1% of the vote, defeating Ray Chote (D) by 40.5 points.
Ileana Ros-LehtinenRepublican · winner
69.1%103,512
Ray ChoteDemocrat
28.6%42,852
Orin OppermanIndependent
2.3%3,423
149,787 votes
Source: MIT Election Data and Science LabUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:25 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 2002
Races before and after
Source: MIT Election Data and Science LabUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:25 AM ET
Money in this race
Each line compares the two campaigns on one scale.
No DemocratIleana Ros-Lehtinen
—
Raised by the campaign
$709.9K
—
Spent by the campaign
$446.6K
—
Cash on hand
$1.5M
Campaign money: FEC, through Dec 31, 2002.
Source: FEC campaign filingsUpdated Dec 31, 2002