The 2002 Nebraska gubernatorial election, held on November 5, 2002, featured incumbent Republican Governor of Nebraska Mike Johanns defeating his Democratic opponent Stormy Dean in a landslide.

Michael Owen Johanns is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Nebraska from 2009 to 2015. He served as the 38th governor of Nebraska from 1999 until 2005, and was chair of the Midwestern Governors Association in 2002. In 2005, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as the secretary of agriculture, where he served from 2005 to 2007, becoming the fourth Nebraskan to hold that position.