2004 United States elections

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2004 United States elections
2002          2003         2004         2005          2006
Presidential election year
Election dayNovember 2
Incumbent president George W. Bush (Republican)
Next Congress 109th
Presidential election
Partisan controlRepublican hold
Popular vote marginRepublican +2.4%
Electoral vote
George W. Bush (R)286
John Kerry (D)251
ElectoralCollege2004.svg
2004 presidential election results map. Red denotes states/districts won by Republican George W. Bush, and Blue denotes those won by Democrat John Kerry. Numbers indicate electoral votes allotted to the winner of each state.
Senate elections
Overall controlRepublican hold
Seats contested34 of 100 seats
Net seat changeRepublican +4
2004 United States Senate elections results map.svg
2004 Senate election results map
House elections
Overall controlRepublican hold
Popular vote marginRepublican +2.6%
Net seat changeRepublican +3
United States House of Representatives elections, 2004.png
2004 House election results map
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested13 (11 states, 2 territories)
Net seat change0
2004 United States gubernatorial elections results map.svg
2004 gubernatorial election results map
Legend
     Democratic gain     Republican gain
     Democratic hold     Republican hold
     Popular Democratic hold     Nonpartisan

The 2004 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004, during the early years of the war on terror and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Republican President George W. Bush won re-election and Republicans retained control of Congress.

Contents

Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts won his party's nomination after defeating Senator John Edwards and several other candidates in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. In the general election, Bush won 286 of the 538 electoral votes and 50.7 percent of the popular vote. Foreign policy was the dominant theme throughout the election campaign, particularly Bush's conduct of the war on terrorism and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Riding Bush's coattails, the Republicans picked up net gains of four Senate seats and three House seats. In the gubernatorial elections, neither party won a net gain of seats. Bush became the first president since Ronald Reagan in 1980 to see his party gain seats in both Houses of Congress during a presidential election year. Republicans would not win another trifecta until 2016.

Future President Barack Obama was elected to the United States Senate in Illinois, and he was elected president in the next presidential election.

As of 2020, this is the last time the incumbent party retained control over the presidency and Congress after a single term.

Federal elections

President

Republican incumbent President George W. Bush was re-elected, defeating Democratic Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts.

United States Senate

The 34 seats in the United States Senate Class 3 were up for election. Republicans had a net gain of 4 seats. Summary of the 2004 United States Senate elections results

PartiesTotal
Democratic Republican Independent Libertarian Others
Before these elections48511100
End of this Congress (two months later)48511100
Not Up2936166
Up191534
Incumbent
retired
Total before538
Held by same party11
Replaced by other partyDecrease2.svg 2 Republicans replaced by Increase2.svg 2 Democrats
Decrease2.svg 5 Democrats replaced by Increase2.svg 5 Republicans
7
Result after268
Incumbent
ran
Total before1412 [a] 26
Won re-election131225
Lost re-electionDecrease2.svg 1 Democrat replaced by Increase2.svg 1 Republican1
Lost renomination, held by same party0
Lost renomination, and party lost0
Result after131326
Net gain/lossDecrease2.svg 4Increase2.svg 44
Total elected151934
Result44551100
Popular
vote
Votes44,754,61839,920,562186,231754,8612,481,07588,097,347
Share50.80%45.31%0.21%0.86%2.82%100%

Sources:

United States House of Representatives

Republicans gained a couple of seats in the House, mainly due to the 2003 Texas redistricting. Republicans won the national popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 2.6 percentage points. [1]

Summary of the 2004 United States House of Representatives elections results
PartiesSeatsPopular vote
2002 2004Net
change
StrengthVote %Change
Republican Party 229232Increase2.svg 353.3%55,958,14449.4%-0.6%
Democratic Party 205202Decrease2.svg 346.4%52,969,78646.8%+1.6%
Libertarian Party 1,056,8440.9%-0.5%
Independent 1100.2%674,2020.6%+0.1%
Green Party 344,5490.3%-0.1%
Constitution Party 187,0060.2%-
Reform Party 85,5390.1%+0.1%
Independence Party 76,0530.1%+0.1%
Others1,840,1631.6%-0.6%
Total4344350100.0%113,192,286100.0%
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

State elections

Governors

Eleven of the fifty United States governors were up for re-election, as were the governorships of two U.S. territories. The final results were a net change of zero between the political parties. The Democrats picked up the governorships in Montana and New Hampshire, but the Republicans picked up the ones in Indiana and Missouri.

StateIncumbentPartyFirst

elected

ResultCandidates
Delaware Ruth Ann Minner Democratic 2000 Incumbent re-elected.
Indiana Joe Kernan Democratic2003 [b] Incumbent lost re-election.

New governor elected. Republican gain.

Missouri Bob Holden Democratic 2000 Incumbent lost re-nomination.

New governor elected. Republican gain.

Montana Judy Martz Republican 2000 Incumbent retired.

New governor elected. Democratic gain.

New Hampshire Craig Benson Republican 2002 Incumbent lost re-election.

New governor elected. Democratic gain.

North Carolina Mike Easley Democratic 2000 Incumbent re-elected.
North Dakota John Hoeven Republican 2000 Incumbent re-elected.
Utah Olene Walker Republican2003 [c] Incumbent lost re-nomination.

New governor elected. Republican hold.

Vermont Jim Douglas Republican 2002 Incumbent re-elected.
Washington Gary Locke Democratic 2000 Incumbent retired.

New governor elected. Democratic hold.

West Virginia Bob Wise Democratic 2000 Incumbent retired.

New governor elected. Democratic hold.

Other statewide elections

In many states where if the following positions were elective offices, voters cast votes for candidates for state executive branch offices of Lieutenant Governor (though some were voted for on the same ticket as the gubernatorial nominee), Secretary of state, state Treasurer, state Auditor, state Attorney General, state Superintendent of Education, Commissioners of Insurance, Agriculture or, Labor, etc.) and state judicial branch offices (seats on state Supreme Courts and, in some states, state appellate courts).

State legislative elections

Elections to state legislatures were held on November 2, 2004, alongside other elections. Elections were held for 85 legislative chambers, with all states but Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Alabama, Maryland, and Virginia holding elections in at least one house. Michigan and Minnesota held elections for their lower, but not upper houses. [2] Six chambers in three territories and the District of Columbia were up as well.

The 2004 elections created narrow legislative divisions across the country. Both parties flipped seats and chambers across the country, with most Democratic gains coming from the Northeast and West and most Republican gains coming from the South. Over 20 states featured statehouses controlled by fewer than four seats, and nearly 30 states featured divided governments. Both parties took advantage of heavy spending from 527 organizations. [3]

Republicans won control of four chambers from the Democrats. The institution of term limits contributed to the Republican takeover of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and favorable redistricting aided Republicans in winning the Georgia House of Representatives for the first time ever. [3] Republicans additionally won the Tennessee Senate, for the time since 1870, and the Indiana House of Representatives. [4] [5]

Democrats performed better than Republicans overall at the state-legislative level, despite their defeat in the concurrent presidential election, winning control of eight additional chambers. Favorable redistricting enabled the Democratic takeover of the Montana Legislature and their retaking of control of the North Carolina House of Representatives, which was previously tied. [3] Additionally, they took control of the Washington Senate; the Oregon Senate, which was previously tied; both houses of the Colorado General Assembly for the first time since 1963, and the Vermont House of Representatives. The Iowa Senate became tied after previously being controlled by the Republicans prior to the election. [4] [5] Democrats' takeover of the Montana House only came after the Montana Supreme Court declared a Democrat a victor in a contested election that evenly split the chamber. This gave Democrats control of the chamber with the help of incoming governor Brian Schweitzer. [6]

The Democrats also regained the title of holding the most legislative seats across the country, winning one more seat than the Republicans. [5]

Initiatives and referendums

Vote for same-sex marriage ban by counties:
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90% - 100%
80% - 90%
70% - 80%
60% - 70%
50% - 60%
Vote against same-sex marriage ban by counties:
60% - 70%
50% - 60% U.S. state constitutional amendments banning same-sex unions, November 2, 2004.svg
Vote for same-sex marriage ban by counties:
  90% – 100%
  80% – 90%
  70% – 80%
  60% – 70%
  50% – 60%
Vote against same-sex marriage ban by counties:
  60% – 70%
  50% – 60%

Local elections

Mayoral elections

Some of the major American cities that held their mayoral elections in 2004 included:

Notes

  1. Includes the interim appointee ran for election.
  2. Kernan took office after his predecessor (Frank O'Bannon) died.
  3. Walker took office after her predecessor (Mike Leavitt) resigned.

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References

  1. "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 2004" (PDF). U.S. House of Reps, Office of the Clerk. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  2. "State legislative elections, 2004".
  3. 1 2 3 Prah, Pamela M. (November 15, 2007). "2004 elections set up year of legislative stalemate". stateline.org. Archived from the original on November 7, 2008. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  4. 1 2 Madigan, Erin; Kelderman, Eric (November 5, 2004). "GOP Loses Ground in Statehouse Control". pew.org. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  5. 1 2 3 Storey, Tim (2005). "2004 legislative elections". Spectrum: The Journal of State Government. 78 (1): 8 via Gale Academic OneFile.
  6. Robbins, Jim (2004-12-29). "Ruling Puts Democrats in Control in Montana". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  7. "(365Gay)". Archived from the original on 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2013-06-07.
  8. Armstrong, Kevin (2008-01-10). "Chesapeake mayor Dalton Edge won't run for second term". The Virginian-Pilot.
  9. Dillon, Jeff (2005-04-25). "San Diego mayor announces departure less than 5 months into second term". San Diego Union-Tribune.

Further reading