The primary elections took place on March 5, 2002.

The Democratic incumbent, Cruz Bustamante, defeated the Republican nominee, State Senator Bruce McPherson.

A bar graph of statewide results in this contest are available at https://web.archive.org/web/20080905210433/http://primary2002.ss.ca.gov/Returns/ltg/00.htm.

Results by county are available at https://web.archive.org/web/20080905210433/http://primary2002.ss.ca.gov/Returns/ltg/00.htm#cty.

Final results from the Secretary of State of California:[1] Results from the Secretary of State of California: [2]