2004 United States Senate election in Connecticut

2004 United States Senate election in Connecticut

←  1998 November 2, 2004 2010  →

Nominee Chris Dodd Jack Orchulli Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 945,347 457,749 Percentage 66.35% 32.13%

County results Municipality results Congressional district results Dodd:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Orchulli:      40–50%     50–60%

U.S. senator before election Chris Dodd Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Chris Dodd Democratic

The 2004 United States Senate election in Connecticut 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 Democrat U.S. Senator Chris Dodd won re-election for a fifth term.

Major candidates

Democratic

• Chris Dodd, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1981

Republican

• Jack Orchulli, CEO and co-founder of a Michael Kors's apparel company. ^[1]

General election

Campaign

Incumbent Chris Dodd was one of the most powerful senators in Congress. In the election cycle, Dodd raised over $7 million. His top five contributors were Bear Stearns, Citigroup, National Westminster Bank, Lehman Brothers, and Goldman Sachs. ^[2]

The Republican nominee, Jack Orchulli, ran as fiscal conservative and social moderate.^{[ citation needed ]} He broke ranks with his party on gay marriage and abortion. ^[3] He often talked about a "broken education system." He argued that Dodd hasn't done anything in his 30 years in Congress to fix such issues as traffic problems in Fairfield County. ^[4]

Orchulli launched a statewide TV ad campaign in September, as he spent over $1.1 million and pledged to spend "whatever it takes" if polls showed that he was gaining ground on Dodd. ^[5]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball [6]	Safe D	November 1, 2004

Results

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Chris Dodd (Incumbent)	945,347	66.35%
	Republican	Jack Orchulli	457,749	32.13%
	Concerned Citizens	Timothy Knibbs	12,442	0.87%
	Libertarian	Leonard Rasch	9,188	0.64%
	Democratic hold

By congressional district

Dodd won all five congressional districts, including three that elected Republicans. ^[7]

District	Dodd	Orchulli	Representative
1st	71%	27%	John Larson
2nd	68%	30%	Rob Simmons
3rd	70%	29%	Rosa DeLauro
4th	62%	37%	Chris Shays
5th	60%	38%	Nancy Johnson

See also

• 2004 United States Senate elections

References

1. "Our Campaigns - Candidate - Jack Orchulli". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
2. "Sen. Chris Dodd - Campaign Finance Summary".
3. "Jack Orchulli of Darien Announces He'll Run Against U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal". Darienite. April 12, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
6. "The Final Predictions". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
7. "Statement of Vote" (PDF). Secretary of the State of Connecticut . Archived (PDF) from the original on March 23, 2025. Retrieved May 15, 2025.