2004 United States elections

2004 United States elections

← 2003 2004 2005 → Presidential election year
Election day	November 2
Incumbent president	George W. Bush (Republican)
Next Congress	109th
Presidential election
Partisan control	Republican hold
Popular vote margin	Republican +2.4%
Electoral vote
George W. Bush (R)	286
John Kerry (D)	251
2004 Presidential election results map. Red denotes states/districts won by Republican George W. Bush, and Blue denotes those won by Democrat John Kerry. Numbers indicate electoral votes allotted to the winner of each state.
Senate elections
Overall control	Republican hold
Seats contested	34 of 100 seats
Net seat change	Republican +4
2004 Senate election results map
House elections
Overall control	Republican hold
Popular vote margin	Republican +2.6%
Net seat change	Republican +3
2004 House election results map
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested	13 (11 states, 2 territories)
Net seat change	None
2004 Gubernatorial election results map
Legend
Democratic gain  Republican gain  Democratic hold  Republican hold  Popular Democratic hold  Nonpartisan

The 2004 United States elections were held on November 2. Republican President George W. Bush won re-election and Republicans retained control of Congress.

Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts won his party's nomination after defeating Senator John Edwards and several other candidates in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. In the general election, Bush won 286 of the 538 electoral votes and 50.7 percent of the popular vote. Foreign policy was the dominant theme throughout the election campaign, particularly Bush's conduct of the War on Terrorism and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Riding Bush's coattails, the Republicans picked up net gains of four Senate seats and three House seats. In the gubernatorial elections, neither party won a net gain of seats.

As of 2020, this is the last time the incumbent party retained control over the presidency and Congress after a single term.

Federal elections

President

Republican incumbent President George W. Bush was re-elected, defeating Democratic Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts.

United States Senate

The 34 seats in the United States Senate Class 3 were up for election. Republicans had a net gain of 4 seats.

Summary of the United States Senate elections, 2004 results ^[]

Parties							Total
		Democratic	Republican	Independent	Libertarian	Others
Before these elections		48	51	1	—	—	100
End of this Congress (two months later)		48	51	1	—	—	100
Not Up		29	36	1	—	—	66
Up		19	15	—	—	—	34
Incumbent retired	Total before	5	3	—	—	—	8
	Held by same party	—	1	—	—	—	1
	Replaced by other party	2 Republicans replaced by 2 Democrats	5 Democrats replaced by 5 Republicans	—	—	—	7
	Result after	2	6	—	—	—	8
Incumbent ran	Total before	14	12	—	—	—	26
	Won re-election	13	12	—	—	—	25
	Lost re-election	1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican		—	—	—	1
	Lost renomination, held by same party	—	—	—	—	—	0
	Lost renomination, and party lost	—	—	—	—	—	0
	Result after	13	13	—	—	—	26
Net gain/loss		4	4	—	—	—	4
Total elected		15	19	—	—	—	34
Result		44	55	1	—	—	100
Popular vote	Votes	44,754,618	39,920,562	186,231	754,861	2,481,075	88,097,347
	Share	50.80%	45.31%	0.21%	0.86%	2.82%	100%

Sources:

• Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Elections
• United States Elections Project at George Mason University

United States House of Representatives

Republicans gained a couple of seats in the House, mainly due to the 2003 Texas redistricting. Republicans won the national popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 2.6 percentage points.^[1]

Summary of the 2004 United States House of Representatives elections results

Parties		Seats				Popular vote
		2002	2004	Net change	Strength	Vote	%	Change
	Republican Party	229	232	3	53.3%	55,958,144	49.4%	-0.6%
	Democratic Party	205	202	3	46.4%	52,969,786	46.8%	+1.6%
	Libertarian Party	—	—	—	—	1,056,844	0.9%	-0.5%
	Independent	1	1	0	0.2%	674,202	0.6%	+0.1%
	Green Party	—	—	—	—	344,549	0.3%	-0.1%
	Constitution Party	—	—	—	—	187,006	0.2%	-
	Others	—	—	—	—	2,001,755	1.8%	-0.5%
Total		434	435	0	100.0%	113,192,286	100.0%	–
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

State elections

Governors

Eleven of the fifty United States governors were up for re-election, as were the governorships of two U.S. territories. The final results were a net change of zero between the political parties. The Democrats picked up the governorships in Montana and New Hampshire, but the Republicans picked up the ones in Indiana and Missouri.

Other statewide elections

In many states where if the following positions were elective offices, voters cast votes for candidates for state executive branch offices of Lieutenant Governor (though some were voted for on the same ticket as the gubernatorial nominee), Secretary of state, state Treasurer, state Auditor, state Attorney General, state Superintendent of Education, Commissioners of Insurance, Agriculture or, Labor, etc.) and state judicial branch offices (seats on state Supreme Courts and, in some states, state appellate courts).

State legislative elections

Many states across the nation held elections for their state legislatures.^[2]

Initiatives and referenda

Vote for same-sex marriage ban by counties:

 90% – 100%

 80% – 90%

 70% – 80%

 60% – 70%

 50% – 60%

Vote against same-sex marriage ban by counties:

 60% – 70%

 50% – 60%

• State constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriage are passed in eleven states: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah. The measures in Oregon, Mississippi, and Montana bans same-sex marriage only, while Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Utah bans both same-sex marriage and civil unions and Michigan bans granting any benefits whatsoever to same-sex couples.^[3]

Local elections

Mayoral elections

Some of the major American cities that held their mayoral elections in 2004 included:

• Chesapeake – Dalton S. Edge won an open seat race to succeed outgoing Mayor William E. Ward.^[4]
• Jersey City- In a special election triggered due to the passing of Glenn Cunningham (D), attorney Jerramiah Healy (D) defeated General Assemblyman Louis Manzo (D) and Acting Mayor L. Harvey Smith (D) to serve the rest of the unexpired term.
• San Diego – Incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy (R) was re-elected, but resigned five months later.^[5]

References

Further reading

• Ceaser, James W. and Andrew E. Busch. Red Over Blue: The 2004 Elections and American Politics (2005), narrative history.
• Greene, John C. and Mark J. Rozell, eds. The Values Campaign?: The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections (2006).
• Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash And Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005).
• Stempel III, Guido H. and Thomas K. Hargrove, eds. The 21st-Century Voter: Who Votes, How They Vote, and Why They Vote (2 vol. 2015).

External links

• United States Election 2004 Web Archive from the U.S. Library of Congress