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Source: 2002 Georgia gubernatorial election

The 2002 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Democratic governor Roy Barnes sought re-election to a second term as governor. State Senator Sonny Perdue emerged as the Republican nominee from a crowded and hotly contested primary, and he faced off against Barnes, who had faced no opponents in his primary election, in the general election. Though Barnes had been nicknamed "King Roy" due to his unique ability to get his legislative priorities passed, he faced a backlash among Georgia voters due to his proposal to change the state flag from its Confederate design.
Ultimately, Perdue was able to defeat incumbent governor Barnes and became the first Republican to serve as governor of the state since Reconstruction. This was only the second election that a Republican won in the state's history, the other being in 1868. The result was widely considered a major upset. Democrat Max Cleland simultaneously lost the Senate election to Republican Saxby Chambliss, marking just the sixth time in the last 50 years in which U.S. Senate and gubernatorial incumbents from the same political party were simultaneously defeated in the same state..
As of 2024, this is the last governor election in which Decatur, Grady, Meriwether, and Wilkes counties voted for the Democratic candidate. This is the last time that a gubernatorial nominee and a lieutenant gubernatorial nominee from different political parties were elected governor and lieutenant governor in Georgia. Barnes later unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Georgia again in 2010 when Perdue was term-limited.