2004 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

Main article: 2004 United States presidential election

2004 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

←  2000 November 2, 2004 2008  →
Turnout	82.05% (of registered voters) 6.59% [1]
Nominee John Kerry George W. Bush Party Democratic Republican Home state Massachusetts Texas Running mate John Edwards Dick Cheney Electoral vote 11 0 Popular vote 1,510,201 1,304,894 Percentage 52.77% 45.60%
County Results Kerry   50-60%   60-70% Bush   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%
President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President George W. Bush Republican

The 2004 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

The State of Washington was considered a competitive swing state in 2004, and on election day, Kerry won the state with a margin of 7.2%. This is the most recent presidential election in which Washington was considered a swing state. ^[2] As of the 2024 presidential election ^[update] , this remains the last time the state's margin of victory was in single digits and the last time a Republican received more than 45% of the state's vote. This was the only time since statehood that any president was elected twice without carrying Washington either time, a feat that lasted until 2024.

Caucuses

• 2004 Washington Democratic presidential caucuses

Campaign

Predictions

There were 12 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day. ^[3]

Source	Ranking
D.C. Political Report	Solid D
Cook Political Report	Solid D
Newsweek	Solid D
Zogby International	Likely D
Washington Post	Likely D
Research 2000	Solid D
Washington Times	Solid D
Washington Dispatch	Likely D
The New York Times	Solid D
CNN	Likely D
Associated Press	Solid D
Rasmussen Reports	Likely D

Polling

Kerry won every single pre-election except one tie. The final 3 poll average had Kerry winning with 50% to 45%. ^[4]

Fundraising

Bush raised $3,263,363. ^[5] Kerry raised $5,337,921. ^[6]

Advertising and visits

Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election. ^{[7] [8]}

Analysis

A Democratic leaning swing state at the time, Washington has voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in every presidential election since 1988. Like Oregon, the state is divided politically by the urban/rural divide and geographically by the Cascade Mountains. Most of the state's population resides in Western Washington along the Pacific Coast and in highly urbanized areas like Seattle; this part of the state votes overwhelmingly Democratic. The other side of the mountains in Eastern Washington is much more rural and conservative and therefore heavily Republican. While polling showed that voters trusted Bush more than Kerry on the issue of terrorism, the Iraq War and Bush's domestic policies were unpopular in the state. ^[9] As of the 2024 presidential election ^[update] , this is the last election in which Clark County, Island County, and Skagit County voted for the Republican candidate.

Results

2004 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	John Forbes Kerry	John Reid Edwards	1,510,201	52.77%	11
	Republican	George Walker Bush (incumbent)	Richard Bruce Cheney (incumbent)	1,304,894	45.60%	0
	Independent	Ralph Nader	Peter Camejo	23,283	0.81%	0
	Libertarian	Michael Badnarik	Richard Campagna	11,955	0.42%	0
	Constitution	Michael Peroutka	Chuck Baldwin	3,922	0.14%	0
	Green	David Cobb	Pat LaMarche	2,974	0.10%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins		2,629	0.09%	0
	Workers World	John Parker	Teresa Gutierrez	1,077	0.04%	0
	Socialist Workers	Roger Calero	Margaret Trowe	547	0.02%	0
	Socialist Equality	Bill Van Auken	Jim Lawrence	231	0.01%	0
Totals				2,859,084	100.00%	11
Voter turnout (Voting age population)						61.7%

By county

County	John Kerry Democratic		George W. Bush Republican		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	1,315	25.65%	3,751	73.16%	61	1.19%	-2,436	-47.51%	5,127
Asotin	3,319	37.78%	5,320	60.55%	147	1.67%	-2,001	-22.77%	8,786
Benton	21,549	32.21%	44,350	66.30%	993	1.48%	-22,801	-34.09%	66,892
Chelan	10,471	35.58%	18,482	62.80%	477	1.62%	-8,011	-27.22%	29,430
Clallam	17,049	46.37%	18,871	51.33%	846	2.30%	-1,822	-4.96%	36,766
Clark	79,538	46.65%	88,646	51.99%	2,311	1.36%	-9,108	-5.34%	170,495
Columbia	605	28.71%	1,470	69.77%	32	1.52%	-865	-41.06%	2,107
Cowlitz	21,589	50.76%	20,217	47.54%	724	1.71%	1,372	3.22%	42,530
Douglas	4,306	32.20%	8,900	66.56%	166	1.25%	-4,594	-34.36%	13,372
Ferry	1,201	35.92%	2,019	60.38%	124	3.71%	-818	-24.46%	3,344
Franklin	5,188	32.11%	10,757	66.57%	214	1.32%	-5,569	-34.46%	16,159
Garfield	365	27.65%	935	70.83%	20	1.51%	-570	-43.18%	1,320
Grant	7,779	29.92%	17,799	68.47%	417	1.60%	-10,020	-38.55%	25,995
Grays Harbor	14,583	52.17%	12,871	46.05%	499	1.78%	1,712	6.12%	27,953
Island	18,216	47.22%	19,754	51.20%	610	1.58%	-1,538	-3.98%	38,580
Jefferson	11,610	62.25%	6,650	35.66%	390	2.09%	4,960	26.59%	18,650
King	580,378	64.87%	301,043	33.65%	13,307	1.48%	279,335	31.22%	894,728
Kitsap	60,796	51.23%	55,608	46.86%	2,266	1.91%	5,188	4.37%	118,670
Kittitas	6,731	41.77%	9,052	56.17%	331	2.05%	-2,321	-14.40%	16,114
Klickitat	4,036	43.63%	5,016	54.23%	198	2.15%	-980	-10.60%	9,250
Lewis	10,726	33.08%	21,042	64.89%	660	2.04%	-10,316	-31.81%	32,428
Lincoln	1,706	29.36%	4,015	69.09%	90	1.56%	-2,309	-39.73%	5,811
Mason	12,894	50.78%	11,987	47.20%	513	2.01%	907	3.58%	25,394
Okanogan	6,309	38.61%	9,636	58.96%	397	2.43%	-3,327	-20.35%	16,342
Pacific	5,570	53.40%	4,634	44.43%	227	2.17%	936	8.97%	10,431
Pend Oreille	2,310	37.27%	3,693	59.58%	195	3.14%	-1,383	-22.31%	6,198
Pierce	158,231	50.43%	150,783	48.05%	4,779	1.53%	7,448	2.38%	313,793
San Juan	6,589	65.21%	3,290	32.56%	225	2.23%	3,299	32.65%	10,104
Skagit	25,131	48.05%	26,139	49.98%	1,029	1.96%	-1,008	-1.93%	52,299
Skamania	2,374	46.02%	2,695	52.24%	90	1.74%	-321	-6.22%	5,159
Snohomish	156,468	52.97%	134,317	45.47%	4,629	1.57%	22,151	7.50%	295,414
Spokane	87,490	43.19%	111,606	55.09%	3,491	1.72%	-24,116	-11.90%	202,587
Stevens	6,822	33.54%	13,015	63.99%	503	2.47%	-6,193	-30.45%	20,340
Thurston	62,650	55.55%	47,992	42.55%	2,147	1.90%	14,658	13.00%	112,789
Wahkiakum	1,021	45.68%	1,171	52.39%	43	1.92%	-150	-6.71%	2,235
Walla Walla	8,257	36.02%	14,323	62.48%	345	1.50%	-6,066	-26.46%	22,925
Whatcom	48,268	53.40%	40,296	44.58%	1,830	2.02%	7,972	8.82%	90,394
Whitman	8,287	46.01%	9,397	52.17%	328	1.83%	-1,110	-6.16%	18,012
Yakima	28,474	39.12%	43,352	59.56%	964	1.32%	-14,878	-20.44%	72,790
Totals	1,510,201	52.77%	1,304,894	45.60%	46,618	1.63%	205,307	7.17%	2,861,713

County Flips:

Democratic   Hold   Gain from Republican

Republican   Hold

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Whatcom (Largest city: Bellingham)

By congressional district

Kerry won 6 of 9 congressional districts. Both candidates won a district held by the other party. ^[10]

District	Bush	Kerry	Representative
1st	42%	56%	Jay Inslee
2nd	47%	51%	Rick Larsen
3rd	50%	48%	Brian Baird
4th	63%	35%	Doc Hastings
5th	57%	41%	George Nethercutt
			Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th	45%	53%	Norman D. Dicks
7th	19%	79%	Jim McDermott
8th	48%	51%	Jennifer Dunn
			Dave Reichert
9th	46%	53%	Adam Smith

Electors

Main article: List of 2004 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Washington cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Washington is allocated 11 electors because it has 9 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 11 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 11 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 13, 2004, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 11 were pledged for Kerry/Edwards:

1. David Peterson
2. Mary Ervin
3. Valeria Ogden
4. Patsy Whitefoot
5. Larry Armstrong
6. Ken Bumgarner
7. Richard Kelley
8. Sarah Chandler
9. Greg Markley
10. Alan Johanson
11. Mary Crosby

See also

• United States presidential elections in Washington (state)
• Presidency of George W. Bush

References

1. Secretary of State: Kim Wyman. "Voter Turnout by Election". www.sos.wa.gov. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
2. Levien, Andrea (October 4, 2012). "How New Mexico Lost Its Swing". FairVote. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
3. Members DC Political Report ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
4. "2004 Presidential Election Polls. Washington Polls". US Election Atlas.
5. "George W Bush - $374,659,453 raised, '04 election cycle, Republican Party, President".
6. "John F Kerry - $345,826,176 raised, '04 election cycle, Democrat Party, President".
7. "America votes 2004: Candidate tracker". CNN . Retrieved May 27, 2022.
8. "America votes 2004: Campaign ad buys". CNN. Archived from the original on April 22, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
9. "Election 2004: Exit polls". Cnn.com. April 13, 1970. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
10. "Presidential Results by Congressional District, 2000-2008 – Swing State Project".