Bầu cử Thượng viện Hoa Kỳ tại New Jersey năm 2002

The 2002 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 5, 2002. Former U.S. senator Frank Lautenberg was elected over Republican businessman Doug Forrester. Democratic incumbent Robert Torricelli dropped out of the race on September 30 in the face of ethical misconduct allegations, a formal admonishment by the Senate Ethics Committee, and poor public polling.

Primary elections were held on June 4. Torricelli, the target of a federal ethics probe, was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Forrester won a competitive Republican primary over state senators Diane Allen and John Matheussen. Another leading candidate, Essex County executive James W. Treffinger, dropped out on April 22 amid a federal criminal investigation for bribery.

In the general election, Torricelli steadily fell behind Forrester in public polling and dropped out in late September. The New Jersey Democratic State Committee replaced him with Frank Lautenberg, who had held the state's other Senate seat from 1982 until 2001. Forrester's campaign filed legal proceedings aimed at forcing Torricelli's name to remain on the ballot, but the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled unanimously on October 2 that Lautenberg could replace Torricelli.

On election day, Lautenberg defeated Forrester by a 9.9 percentage point margin to win a fourth, non-consecutive term as U.S. senator. At 78, Lautenberg became the oldest non-incumbent to win a Senate election. Lautenberg became the state's junior senator for the second time when he was sworn in on January 3, 2003, as his previous terms in the Senate were not counted for purposes of seniority.

As of 2026, this is the last time a replacement nominee in a Senate race went on to win the general election.