2004 North Carolina gubernatorial election

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2004 North Carolina gubernatorial election
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←  2000 November 2, 2004 2008  →
  Mike Easley.jpg Senator Patrick J. Ballantine (cropped).gif
Nominee Mike Easley Patrick Ballantine
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote1,939,1541,495,021
Percentage55.6%42.9%
2004 North Carolina gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
NC Governor 2004.svg
Easley:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Ballantine:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%
Tie:     40–50%
Governor before election

Mike Easley
Democratic

Elected Governor

Mike Easley
Democratic

The 2004 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2004. The general election was between the Democratic incumbent Mike Easley and the Republican nominee Patrick J. Ballantine. Easley won by 56% to 43%, winning his second term as governor. This is the last time a Democrat was elected governor of North Carolina by double digits.

Contents

Primaries

Democratic

Mike Easley was first elected as governor in 2000 and opted to run for a second term. He faced opposition in the Democratic primary from Rickey Kipfer, a former corporate manager from Lee County. Kipfer campaigned on a platform of abolishing North Carolina's personal income tax and exploring potential natural gas resources in the state. He envisioned the state replacing income tax revenue with revenue from natural gas exploration. Kipfer also proposed a system similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund as a means of distributing potential natural gas revenues to citizens in North Carolina. [1] [2]

Easley's campaign manager stated that they did not consider Kipfer as serious competition. [1] Easley did not campaign against Kipfer.

Mike Easley won the primary comfortably with over 85% of the vote. [2]

Candidates

Declared

Results

2004 North Carolina gubernatorial Democratic primary election [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Mike Easley (incumbent) 379,498 85.37
Democratic Rickey Kipfer65,06114.63
Turnout 444,559100

Republican

Candidates

Declared
Withdrawn
Declined

Results

Primary results by county: Ballantine .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} Ballantine--81-90% Ballantine--71-80% Ballantine--61-70% Ballantine--51-60% Ballantine--41-50% Ballantine--31-40% Ballantine--21-30% Vinroot Vinroot--41-50% Vinroot--31-40% Vinroot--21-30% Cobey Cobey--51-60% Cobey--41-50% Cobey--31-40% Barrett Barrett--51-60% Barrett--21-30% Shubert Shubert--31-40% Little Little--51-60% 2004 North Carolina gubernatorial Republican primary county map.svg
Primary results by county:
Ballantine
  •   Ballantine—81-90%
  •   Ballantine—71-80%
  •   Ballantine—61-70%
  •   Ballantine—51-60%
  •   Ballantine—41-50%
  •   Ballantine—31-40%
  •   Ballantine—21-30%
Vinroot
  •   Vinroot—41-50%
  •   Vinroot—31-40%
  •   Vinroot—21-30%
Cobey
  •   Cobey—51-60%
  •   Cobey—41-50%
  •   Cobey—31-40%
Barrett
  •   Barrett—51-60%
  •   Barrett—21-30%
Shubert
  •   Shubert—31-40%
Little
  •   Little—51-60%
2004 North Carolina gubernatorial Republican primary election [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Patrick J. Ballantine 110,726 30.38
Republican Richard Vinroot 109,21729.97
Republican Bill Cobey 97,46126.74
Republican Dan Barrett 19,0975.24
Republican Fern Shubert 14,4453.96
Republican George Little 13,4743.70
Turnout 364,420100

General election

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
Sabato's Crystal Ball [7] Likely DNovember 1, 2004

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size [lower-alpha 1] 		Margin
of error		Mike
Easley (D)		Patrick
Ballantine (R)		Other /
Undecided
SurveyUSA October 29–31, 2004617 (LV)± 4.0%55%41%5%

Results

2004 North Carolina gubernatorial election [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Mike Easley (incumbent)1,939,15455.62%+3.60%
Republican Patrick J. Ballantine 1,495,02142.88%-3.38%
Libertarian Barbara Howe 52,5131.51%+0.06%
Turnout 3,486,688
Democratic hold Swing

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Notes

  1. ↑ Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Robertson, Gary (July 19, 2004). "Republicans not Easley's only competition". Wilmington Star News. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Vinroot, Ballantine To Meet In GOP Gubernatorial Runoff". WRAL.com. July 21, 2004. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 "North Carolina DataNet #46" (PDF). University of North Carolina. April 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 25, 2008. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Ballantine may step back from position". Wilmington Star News. April 17, 2004. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 "Davie lawyer, Republican, to run for governor". Wilmington Star News. May 20, 2003. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  6. ↑ Dyer, Eric (May 7, 2004). "Fields set for N.C. elections in 2004". Greensboro News and Record.
  7. ↑ "The Final Predictions". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
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