2004 United States Senate election in California

Last updated

2004 United States Senate election in California
Flag of California.svg
←  1998 November 2, 2004 2010  →
  Barbara Boxer 2005 (cropped).jpg Bill Jones, 1995.jpg
Nominee Barbara Boxer Bill Jones
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote6,955,7284,555,922
Percentage57.71%37.80%
2004 United States Senate election in California results map by county.svg
2004 United States Senate election in California by congressional district.svg
Boxer:     40-50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%
Jones:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%
U.S. senator before election

Barbara Boxer
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Barbara Boxer
Democratic

The 2004 United States Senate election in California 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 Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer ran for re-election and defeated Republican former Secretary of State Bill Jones. Boxer's 6.96 million votes set the all-time record for the most votes cast for one candidate in one state in one election, although it was surpassed by Senator Dianne Feinstein's 7.75 million votes in 2012.

Contents

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

2004 United States Senate Democratic primary, California
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Barbara Boxer (Incumbent) 2,566,298 100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

2004 California Republican primary
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Bill Jones 1,015,748 44.81%
Republican Rosario Marin 454,17620.03%
Republican Howard Kaloogian 253,33111.17%
Republican Toni Casey142,0806.27%
Republican Tim Stoen124,9405.51%
Republican James Stewart78,2643.45%
Republican Barry L. Hatch71,2443.14%
Republican John M. Van Zandt56,9252.51%
Republican Danney Ball37,7451.66%
Republican Bill Quraishi32,5151.43%
Total votes2,266,968 100.00%

Third party primaries

American Independent

2004 United States AI Senate primary, California
PartyCandidateVotes%
American Independent Don J. Grundmann 32,025 100.00%

Libertarian

2004 United States Senate Libertarian primary, California
CandidateVotes%
Jim Gray 13,65657.30%
Gail Lightfoot10,17742.70%
Total votes23,833 100.00%

Peace and Freedom

2004 United States PF Senate primary, California
PartyCandidateVotes%
Peace and Freedom Marsha Feinland 4,864 100.00%

General election

Candidates

Major

Minor

Campaign

Boxer originally had planned to retire in 2004 but changed her mind to "fight for the right to dissent" against conservatives such as House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Jones was widely considered as the underdog. [3] Jones got a major endorsement from the popular Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. [4] The two major candidates had a debate. Pre-election polling had Boxer leading in double digits. [5] But he never released a single TV ad. Boxer portrayed Jones as too conservative for California, citing his votes in the California Assembly (1982 to 1994) against gun control and an increased minimum wage, and in support of offshore drilling and a loosening of environmental regulations. [6]

Fundraising

Jones raised about $700,000 more than Boxer during the third quarter, pulling in $2.5 million to Boxer's $1.8 million. But overall, Boxer has raised $16 million to Jones' $6.2 million. And Boxer has spent about $7 million on radio and television ads alone. [7]

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
Sabato's Crystal Ball [8] Safe DNovember 1, 2004

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size [a] 		Margin
of error		Barbara
Boxer (D)		Bill
Jones (R)		Other /
Undecided
SurveyUSA [9] October 29–31, 2004763 (LV)± 3.6%57%36%7%

Results

The election was not close, with Boxer winning by an authoritative 20 point margin. Jones only performed well in rural parts of the state. Boxer on the other hand won almost all major metropolitan areas in the state. The race was called right when the polls closed at 11:00 P.M. EST, and 7:00 P.M. PTZ. Jones conceded defeat to Boxer at 11:12 P.M. EST, and 7:12 PTZ.

2004 United States Senate election, California [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Barbara Boxer (Incumbent) 6,955,728 57.71%
Republican Bill Jones 4,555,92237.80%
Peace and Freedom Marsha Feinland 243,8462.02%
Libertarian James P. "Jim" Gray 216,5221.80%
American Independent Don J. Grundmann81,2440.67%
No partyDennis Richter (write-in)430.00%
No partyHoward Johnson (write-in)80.00%
No partyJohn Emery Jones (write-in)20.00%
Invalid or blank votes536,3884.26%
Total votes12,589,703 100.00%
Turnout  57.03%
Democratic hold

By county

Final results from the Secretary of State of California. [11]

County Boxer Votes Jones Votes Feinland VotesOthersVotes
San Francisco 82.67%277,19312.83%43,0292.15%7,2202.34%7,862
Alameda 75.66%403,89220.23%107,9662.22%11,8511.89%10,103
Marin 70.86%94,16425.81%34,3011.44%1,9151.89%2,505
San Mateo 70.53%196,28526.29%73,1711.33%3,7151.84%5,126
Santa Cruz 70.58%84,84023.49%28,2392.77%3,3293.15%3,791
Los Angeles 66.75%1,940,49328.29%822,3512.36%68,7432.60%75,449
Santa Clara 66.00%380,55129.83%172,0081.66%9,5502.51%14,487
Sonoma 65.67%143,12429.57%64,4382.28%4,9622.49%5,419
Contra Costa 63.49%258,90533.24%135,5591.48%6,0441.78%7,277
Monterey 62.31%76,64732.96%40,5471.84%2,2632.89%3,560
Yolo 61.94%44,08534.05%24,2341.88%1,3402.13%1,518
Mendocino 61.87%23,41529.41%11,1312.76%1,0445.96%2,254
Solano 61.32%89,77935.07%51,3541.61%2,3552.00%2,929
Napa 60.30%33,57735.94%20,0121.59%8842.17%1,208
Humboldt 58.76%38,01634.61%22,3943.47%2,2463.16%2,044
Imperial 57.65%19,49836.06%12,1953.43%1,1592.87%971
Lake 56.32%13,81239.22%9,6191.91%4692.55%625
San Benito 55.82%10,34939.73%7,3651.96%3632.49%462
Santa Barbara 55.10%91,05540.02%66,1462.03%3,3472.85%4,717
Sacramento 54.16%252,01642.34%196,9841.50%6,9952.00%9,283
Alpine 53.90%37341.76%2892.31%162.02%14
San Joaquin 53.00%99,07442.98%80,3501.92%3,5822.10%3,921
Ventura 52.13%159,92043.66%133,9171.84%5,6302.37%7,284
San Diego 51.45%565,45744.13%484,9482.04%22,4312.38%26,125
Mono 49.95%2,59244.59%2,3142.14%1113.31%172
San Bernardino 49.76%251,77645.36%229,5272.18%11,0382.70%13,655
Merced 49.65%27,97546.18%26,0231.95%1,0982.22%1,251
Riverside 47.39%259,16948.67%266,1971.93%10,5472.01%11,015
Stanislaus 46.93%67,53949.70%71,5271.61%2,3241.75%2,517
San Luis Obispo 46.49%58,21248.48%60,7082.12%2,6592.91%3,646
Trinity 46.24%2,96047.93%3,0682.17%1393.66%234
Del Norte 46.03%4,26448.72%4,5132.29%2122.97%275
Nevada 45.79%24,36749.46%26,3211.90%1,0132.85%1,518
Fresno 45.36%109,84951.59%124,9371.61%3,9051.44%3,495
Butte 44.96%42,51249.12%46,4462.52%2,3853.39%3,204
Tuolumne 44.38%11,53852.39%13,6201.23%3192.00%519
Orange 43.73%458,60450.86%533,4061.94%20,3943.47%36,374
Kings 42.71%13,48554.07%17,0751.71%5391.51%478
Amador 42.16%7,44554.15%9,5621.53%2712.15%380
Calaveras 42.17%9,33953.58%11,8651.51%3342.75%608
Inyo 40.68%3,47454.37%4,6432.08%1782.86%244
Mariposa 40.38%3,43755.82%4,7511.69%1442.10%179
Siskiyou 39.92%8,21554.95%11,3081.94%3993.18%655
Placer 39.70%59,55456.78%85,1631.46%2,1972.06%3,086
Plumas 39.59%4,34754.82%6,0192.21%2433.38%371
El Dorado 39.58%33,71556.09%47,7752.05%1,7432.29%1,950
Madera 39.15%15,05857.84%22,2491.67%6411.35%519
Yuba 38.94%6,92655.80%9,9252.21%3933.05%542
Kern 38.13%79,76956.82%118,8822.17%4,5432.88%6,026
Tulare 37.11%36,18159.55%58,0661.84%1,7981.50%1,464
Colusa 36.61%2,22860.10%3,6571.23%752.05%125
Sutter 36.61%10,86460.06%17,8241.47%4361.86%553
Tehama 36.18%8,28558.89%13,4881.76%4033.17%726
Shasta 35.21%26,79560.00%45,6671.86%1,4122.94%2,235
Sierra 34.89%67958.74%1,1431.90%374.47%87
Glenn 33.87%3,14761.77%5,7391.86%1732.50%232
Lassen 32.36%3,65562.43%7,0511.97%2233.24%366
Modoc 28.48%1,25366.27%2,9161.52%673.73%164
California counties shift 1998-2004 senate.svg
California counties trend 1998-2004 senate.svg

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By congressional district

Boxer won 36 of 53 congressional districts, including three that elected Republicans. [12]

DistrictBoxerJonesRepresentative
1st 60%34% Mike Thompson
2nd 40%56% Wally Herger
3rd 46%51% Doug Ose
Dan Lungren
4th 40%56% John Doolittle
5th 65%31% Bob Matsui
6th 68%27% Lynn Woolsey
7th 69%27% George Miller
8th 84%12% Nancy Pelosi
9th 84%11% Barbara Lee
10th 60%37% Ellen Tauscher
11th 50%47% Richard Pombo
12th 73%24% Tom Lantos
13th 73%23% Pete Stark
14th 68%29% Anna Eshoo
15th 65%31% Mike Honda
16th 67%28% Zoe Lofgren
17th 66%29% Sam Farr
18th 57%39% Dennis Cardoza
19th 42%55% George Radanovich
20th 57%38% Cal Dooley
Jim Costa
21st 38%59% Devin Nunes
22nd 36%60% Bill Thomas
23rd 60%35% Lois Capps
24th 47%48% Elton Gallegly
25th 46%49% Howard McKeon
26th 48%47% David Dreier
27th 64%31% Brad Sherman
28th 74%21% Howard Berman
29th 64%31% Adam Schiff
30th 69%27% Henry Waxman
31st 80%15% Xavier Becerra
32nd 68%26% Hilda Solis
33rd 84%12% Diane Watson
34th 74%21% Lucille Roybal-Allard
35th 80%15% Maxine Waters
36th 62%33% Jane Harman
37th 76%18% Juanita Millender-McDonald
38th 71%23% Grace Napolitano
39th 64%31% Linda Sánchez
40th 44%51% Ed Royce
41st 44%52% Jerry Lewis
42nd 42%54% Gary Miller
43rd 64%30% Joe Baca
44th 45%51% Ken Calvert
45th 49%47% Mary Bono Mack
46th 46%49% Dana Rohrabacher
47th 57%35% Loretta Sanchez
48th 44%51% Christopher Cox
John Campbell
49th 42%54% Darrell Issa
50th 48.1%48.2% Brian Bilbray
51st 61%34% Bob Filner
52nd 44%51% Duncan Hunter
53rd 64%31% Susan Davis

See also

Notes

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

References

  1. ↑ "GOP race in state draws little cash, attention : 4 candidates seek chance to replace Boxer in Senate". June 29, 2011. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 "NewsLibrary Search Results". nl.newsbank.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2011. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
  3. ↑ "John J. Miller on U.S. Senate & Election 2004 on National Review Online". Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  4. ↑ "USATODAY.com - Schwarzenegger to endorse Jones for Senate". Usatoday.com.
  5. ↑ "CAMPAIGN 2004 / Jones, Boxer mix it up in only live debate / Challenger plays up Schwarzenegger ties, senator counters". Sfgate.com. August 11, 2004. Archived from the original on September 5, 2010.
  6. ↑ "The State; Bill Jones' Campaign Quandary; With only tepid support from Bush, the GOP challenger to Sen. Boxer could use a boost from the governor -- who so far has kept his distance". Archived from the original on January 31, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Los Angeles Times: Archives - CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS; Jones Pulls Out Cash He Lent to Campaign". Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
  8. ↑ "The Final Predictions". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  9. ↑ SurveyUSA
  10. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20221001060558/https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2004_general/formatted_us_sen_ [ bare URL ]
  11. ↑ "United States Senator" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 31, 2008. Retrieved July 31, 2008.
  12. ↑ "Counties by Congressional Districts for US Senator" (PDF). November 2, 2004. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 28, 2024. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
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.