2004 United States Senate election in Arizona

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2004 United States Senate election in Arizona
Flag of Arizona.svg
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  Senator John McCain official portrait 2006 (2).jpg 3x4.svg
Nominee John McCain Stuart Starky
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote1,505,372404,507
Percentage76.74%20.62%
2004 United States Senate election in Arizona results map by county.svg
County results
McCain:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
U.S. senator before election

John McCain
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

John McCain
Republican

The 2004 United States Senate election in Arizona took place on November 2, 2004, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John McCain won re-election to a fourth term with his largest victory as a U.S. senator. [1] As of 2025, this was the last time the counties of Apache and Santa Cruz voted for the Republican candidate.

Contents

General election

Candidates

Campaign

Since 1998, McCain had an eventful third term. He challenged Texas Governor George W. Bush in the Presidential primary and despite winning the New Hampshire primary, he lost the nomination. Solidifying his image as a maverick, he voted against the Bush tax cuts. He supported limits on stem cell research. He had a lopsided favorable ratings of 39% to 9% unfavorable in the most recent The New York Times /CBS News poll.

Stuart Starky, an eighth-grade teacher in South Phoenix, was widely known as a long-shot challenger. Starky stated that "I truly believe he's going to run for president again." [2] Starky was called by The Arizona Republic a "sacrificial lamb" [3] put on the ballot because there were no chances to beat McCain. During his campaign, he debated McCain twice, once in Tucson and once in Flagstaff. He was also featured on the cover of Teacher Magazine, dubbed the "Unsinkable Stu Starky." Starky was defeated in a landslide. Despite the relatively low percentage, he gained the highest vote per dollar amount in the country, spending only about $15,000 for his campaign (Starky's campaign may have been aided by John Kerry running for president). [4]

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
Sabato's Crystal Ball [5] Safe RNovember 1, 2004

Results

General election results [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican John McCain (incumbent) 1,505,372 76.74% +8.00%
Democratic Stuart Starky404,50720.62%−6.54%
Libertarian Ernest Hancock51,7982.64%+0.37%
Majority 1,100,86556.12%+14.54%
Turnout 1,961,677
Republican hold Swing

By county

CountyStarky #Starky %Hancock #Hancock %McCain #McCain %Total
Apache 9,58841.0%9053.9%12,92355.2%23,416
Cochise 9,55521.8%1,3943.2%32,87975.0%43,828
Coconino 13,52026.6%1,5043.0%35,84970.5%50,873
Gila 4,29121.0%6323.1%15,55176.0%20,474
Graham 2,00019.1%3223.1%8,17177.9%10,493
Greenlee 74625.0%682.3%2,16672.7%2,980
La Paz 96519.5%1563.2%3,82677.3%4,947
Maricopa 216,12418.6%29,7692.6%917,52778.7%1,163,420
Mohave 10,42318.4%1,6863.0%44,40278.6%56,511
Navajo 7,43423.4%1,2223.9%23,09172.7%31,747
Pima 89,48325.2%7,9802.2%258,01072.6%355,473
Pinal 13,59521.5%1,6922.7%48,09475.9%63,381
Santa Cruz 3,58331.6%2522.2%7,50266.2%11,337
Yavapai 14,85217.4%3,1603.7%67,31278.9%85,324
Yuma 8,34822.3%1,0562.8%28,06974.9%37,473
Arizona 404,50720.6%51,7982.6%1,505,37276.7%1,961,677

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Election 2004: U.S. Senate – Arizona – Exit Poll", CNN. Retrieved December 23, 2007.
  2. ↑ Purdum, Todd S. (August 21, 2004). "The 2004 Campaign: The Arizona Senator; Bearhug Politics: Careful Steps to a New Bush-McCain Alliance". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ "McCain Profile: The 'maverick' goes establishment". archive.azcentral.com.
  4. ↑ Cech, Scott J. (October 1, 2004). "The Unsinkable Stu Starky". Education Week.
  5. ↑ "The Final Predictions". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives".
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