2002–03 Hawaii's 2nd congressional district special elections

Elections in Hawaii
Federal government Presidential elections 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 2004 2008 2016 2020 Republican 2008 2012 2016 2024 U.S. Senate elections 1959 1962 1964 1968 1970 1974 1976 1980 1982 1986 1988 1990 1990 sp 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 2014 sp 2016 2018 2022 2024 2028 U.S. House of Representatives elections 1959 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1st sp 1988 1990 2nd sp 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2nd sp 2003 (2nd sp) 2004 2006 2008 2010 1st sp 2012 2014 2016 1st sp 2018 2020 2022 2024
State government Gubernatorial elections 1959 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Senate elections 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 House of Representatives elections 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
Ballot measures 1998 Amendment 2
Honolulu Mayoral elections 2008 2010 sp 2012 2016 2020 2024
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There were two United States House of Representatives special elections in Hawaii's 2nd congressional district within 35 days of each other to select the successor to Democrat Patsy Mink who had died from pneumonia. The elections, held November 30, 2002, and January 4, 2003, were officially nonpartisan and each held as general elections without primaries to pick a successor for the remainder of her term in the 107th Congress and for the next term in the 108th Congress, to which Mink was posthumously re-elected. Both elections were won by Democrat Ed Case.

Background

On August 30, 2002, Mink was hospitalized in Honolulu's Straub Clinic and Hospital with complications from chickenpox. Her condition steadily worsened, and on September 28, 2002, Mink died in Honolulu of viral pneumonia. The week prior to her untimely death, she had won renomination. By this point, it was too late to remove her name from the general election ballot. On November 5, 2002, Mink was posthumously re-elected over state Representative Bob McDermott (R). As a result, this triggered two separate special elections: the first to fill the vacancy during the end of the 107th Congress and the second for the new term beginning on January 3, 2003. In accordance with Hawaiian law the elections were single nonpartisan races without primaries.

Election to the 107th Congress (November 30, 2002)

The two most notable candidates to compete in the first election were then-state representative and former state House Majority Leader Ed Case and John Mink, the former husband of the late Congresswoman. Despite the latter's connections to the district's prior representative, Case would win the election with fifty-one percent of the vote.

Election to the 108th Congress (January 4, 2003)

The now-freshman incumbent Case immediately ran for reelection in the early January 2003 race for the second district seat in the