2004 United States Senate election in Alaska

Last updated

2004 United States Senate election in Alaska
Flag of Alaska.svg
←  1998 November 2, 2004 2010  →
  Lisa Murkowski.jpg Tony Knowles (D-AK) (cropped).jpg
Nominee Lisa Murkowski Tony Knowles
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote149,773140,424
Percentage48.58%45.55%
2004 United States Senate election in Alaska results map by borough and census area.svg
Results by borough and census area
Murkowski:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
Knowles:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
U.S. senator before election

Lisa Murkowski [a]
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Lisa Murkowski
Republican

The 2004 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 2, 2004. Interim U.S. senator Lisa Murkowski won re-election to a full term in office over former governor Tony Knowles. Murkowski had been appointed in 2002 by Frank Murkowski, her father and the governor of the state.

Contents

At the time, this was the closest United States Senate election in Alaska history; it has since been surpassed in 2008, 2010 and 2014. Murkowski was the first woman elected to the United States Congress from Alaska. As of 2025, Murkowski’s total vote of 149,773 remains the most she has received in her four campaigns for United States Senate.

Background

On November 5, 2002, U.S. senator Frank Murkowski ran for election as governor of Alaska and won, resigning from the United States Senate to take office as governor on December 2. On December 20, Murkowski appointed his daughter Lisa, a Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives from Anchorage, to his former seat for the remainder of his unexpired term. Murkowski passed over other potential appointees, including retiring Wasilla mayor Sarah Palin and state senator Ben Stevens, who was the son of the state's popular senior senator, Ted Stevens.

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Lisa Murkowski (incumbent) 45,710 58.1%
Republican Mike Miller29,31337.3%
Republican Wev Shea2,8573.6%
Republican Jim Dore7480.9%
Total votes78,628 100.0%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary results [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Tony Knowles 40,881 95.0%
Democratic Don Wright1,0802.5%
Democratic Theresa Obermeyer1,0452.4%
Total votes43,006 100.0%

General election

Candidates

Campaign

By 2004, popular opinion had swung against the Murkowski family because of a state tax increase passed by Frank. Lisa Murkowski had very low approval ratings and faced accusations that she owed her seat to nepotism. Knowles enlisted extensive out-of-state support in his bid for the seat and ran on his support for drilling in ANWR, in contrast to his national party.

Murkowski received crucial support from Ted Stevens, who worked to rescue her campaign and taped advertisements warning Alaskans that electing a Democrat could result in fewer federal dollars for Alaska. [2]

Debates

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
Sabato's Crystal Ball [3] Lean D (flip)November 1, 2004

Polling

Poll source [4] Dates administeredMurkowski (R)Knowles (D)
KTUU October 4, 200445%48%
KTUU October 18, 200445%47%
McLaughlinOctober 28, 200448%43%

Results

2004 United States Senate election in Alaska [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Lisa Murkowski (incumbent) 149,773 48.58% −25.91%
Democratic Tony Knowles 140,42445.55%+25.82%
Independent Marc J. Millican8,8852.88%
Independence Jerry Sanders3,7851.23%
Green Jim Sykes3,0530.99%2.22%
Libertarian Scott A. Kohlhaas1,2400.40%−1.87%
Independent Ted Gianoutsas7320.24%
Write-ins4230.14%
Majority 9,3493.03%−51.74%
Turnout 308,315
Republican hold Swing

Boroughs and census areas that flipped from Republican to Democratic

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ In December 2002, Murkowski was appointed by Governor Frank Murkowski (her father) to fill the vacancy caused by Frank Murkowski himself resigning after being sworn in as Governor of Alaska.

References

  1. 1 2 "2004 Primary Election - August 24, 2004 Official Results". State of Alaska. September 14, 2004. Archived from the original on May 20, 2009.
  2. ↑ Hulse, Carl (October 31, 2004). "THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: CONTROL OF CONGRESS; Races for House and Senate Have Been Nasty, Expensive and Focused on Local Issues". New York Times. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
  3. ↑ "The Final Predictions". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Polls". RealClear Politics. Archived from the original on June 10, 2010. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
  5. ↑ Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 2004" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 5, 2007. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.