United States elections, 2004

2004 United States elections

Presidential election year
Election day	November 2
Presidential election
Electoral vote
George W. Bush (R)	286
John Kerry (D)	251
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
Seats contested	34 seats of Class III
Net change	Republican +4
2004 Senate election results map
House elections
Net change	Republican +3
2004 House election results map
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested	11
Net change	0
2004 Gubernatorial election results map
Legend
Democratic hold   Democratic gain   Republican hold   Republican gain

The 2004 United States general elections were held on November 2, with George W. Bush being re-elected to a second term as President. Riding Bush's coattails, the Republicans picked up net gains of 4 Senate seats and 3 House seats, increasing their majorities in both House in Congress. In the state governorships up for election, there was no net gain in seats for either party. 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.

Federal

President

Main article: United States presidential election, 2004

George W. Bush was re-elected to a second term.

Candidate	Votes	%	States led	National ECV
Republican George W. Bush	62,040,610	50.73	31	286
Democrat John Kerry	59,028,444	48.27	19+DC	251
Independent Ralph Nader	465,650	0.38	-	-
Libertarian Michael Badnarik	397,265	0.32	-	-
Constitution Michael Peroutka	143,630	0.12	-	-
Green David Cobb	119,859	0.096	-	-
Peace and Freedom Leonard Peltier	27,607	0.023	-	-
Socialist Walt Brown	10,837	0.009	-	-
Socialist Workers Roger Calero, James Harris	10,800	0.009	-	-
None of these candidates (Nevada)	3,688	0.003	-	-
Thomas Harens	2,387	0.002	-	-
Prohibition Gene Amondson	1,944	0.002	-	-
Bill Van Auken	1,857	0.002	-	-
Workers World John Parker	1,646	0.001	-	-
Charles Jay	946	0.001	-	-
Stanford Andress	804	0.001	-	-
Prohibition Earl Dodge	140	0.000	-	-
Democrat John Edwards	-	-	-	1
Total	122,267,553	100.000	50 + DC	538

United States Congress

United States House of Representatives

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections, 2004

Republicans gained a couple of seats in the House, mainly due to the 2003 Texas redistricting.

  Summary of the 2004 United States House of Representatives elections results

Parties		Seats				Popular Vote
		20021	2004	+/-	Strength	Vote	%	Change
	Republican Party	229	232	+3	53.3%	55,713,412	49.2%	—0.4%
	Democratic Party	204	202	-2	46.4%	52,745,121	46.6%	+1.6%
	Libertarian Party	—	—	—	—	1,040,465	0.9%	—0.5%
	Independent	1	1	0	0.2%	674,202	0.6%	+0.1%
	Green Party	—	—	—	—	331,298	0.3%	—0.1%
	Independence Party	—	—	—	—	246,070	0.2%	0.0%
	Working Families Party	—	—	—	—	145,979	0.1%	N/A
	Constitution Party	—	—	—	—	132,613	0.1%	0.0%
	Reform Party	—	—	—	—	85,539	0.1%	+0.1%
	Other parties	—	—	—	—	2,063,606	1.8%	—0.8%
Total		434	435	0	100.0%	113,192,286	100.0%	–
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

¹ Vacancy due to death of Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii).

United States Senate

Main article: United States Senate elections, 2004

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 United States Senate elections, 2004 results ^[]

Parties							Total
		Republican	Democratic	Independent	Libertarian	Others
Last election (2002)		51	48	1	—	—	100
Before this election		51	48	1	—	—	100
End of this Congress (two months later)		51	48	1	—	—	100
Not Up		36	29	1	—	—	66
Up		15	19	—	—	—	34
Incumbent retired	Held by same party	1	—	—	—	—	1
	Replaced by other party	5 Democrats replaced by 5 Republicans	2 Republicans replaced by 2 Democrats	—	—	—	7
Incumbent ran	Won re-election	12	13	—	—	—	25
	Lost re-election	1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican		—	—	—	1
	Lost renomination, held by same party	—	—	—	—	—	0
	Lost renomination, and party lost	—	—	—	—	—	0
Total held		13	13	—	—	—	26
Total not held / gained		4	2	—	—	—	6
Total elected		19	15	—	—	—	34
Result		55	44	1	—	—	100
Popular vote	Votes	39,920,562	44,754,618	186,231	754,861	2,481,075	88,097,347
	Share	45.3%	50.8%	0.21%	0.86%	2.82%	100%

Sources:

• Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Elections
• United States Elections Project at George Mason University

State

Governors

Main article: United States gubernatorial elections, 2004

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.

Other state-wide Officer 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, and etc.) and state judicial branch offices (seats on state Supreme Courts and, in some states, state appellate courts).

State Legislative elections

Many states across the nation held elections for their state legislatures.

Local elections

Mayoral elections

Some major American cities held their mayoral elections in 2004.

• Bakersfield – Incumbent mayor Harvey Hall was re-elected.
• Baton Rouge – Incumbent mayor Bobby Simpson (R) was defeated by state Senator Kip Holden (D).
• Chesapeake – Dalton S. Edge won an open seat race to succeed outgoing Mayor William E. Ward.
• Fremont - Bob Wasserman (D) defeated fellow city Councilman Bill Pease to succeed outgoing Mayor Gus Morrison
• Glendale, Arizona - Incumbent Mayor Elaine Scruggs was re-elected.
• Honolulu - Mufi Hannemann (D), a former Chairman of the Honolulu City Council and member of President's Council on the 21st Century Workforce, won an open seat race to succeed term-limited Mayor Jeremy Harris (D).
• Jersey City- In a special election triggered due to the passing of Glenn Cunningham (D), attorney Jerramiah Healy (D) defeated General Assemblyman Louis Manzo (D) and Acting Mayor L. Harvey Smith (D) to serve the rest of the unexpired term.
• Lubbock- Incumbent Mayor Marc McDougal was re-elected.
• Mesa- Incumbent Mayor Keno Hawker was re-elected.
• Milwaukee- Marvin Pratt (D), who succeeded John Norquist (D) upon his resignation to lead the Congress for the New Urbanism, was defeated by former U.S. Representative Tom Barrett (D).
• Oklahoma City- Councilman Mick Cornett (R) won a special election that occurred due to Mayor Kirk Humphreys's (R) resignation to pursue an unsuccessful bid for the United States Senate.
• Plano- Incumbent Mayor Pat Evans (R) was re-elected.
• Portland, Oregon- Former Chief of the Portland Police Bureau Tom Potter won an upset victory over City Commissioner Jim Francesconi in an open seat race to succeed outgoing Mayor Vera Katz (D).
• Richmond, Virginia- Former Governor of Virginia Douglas Wilder (D) became the first directly elected Mayor of Richmond in six decades following the passage of the mayor-at-large proposal Referendum in 2003.
• Sacramento – Incumbent mayor Heather Fargo was re-elected.
• San Diego – Incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy (R) was re-elected, but resigned five months later. San Diego was the most populous city to hold a mayoral election in 2004.
• San Juan - In a rematch of their 2000 contest, incumbent mayor Jorge Santini (PNP) defeated former (and future) Senador Eduardo Bhatia (PPD).
• Santa Ana- Incumbent Mayor Miguel A. Pulido (D) was re-elected.
• Scottsdale- Incumbent Mayor Mary Manross (D) was re-elected.
• Stockton- Former Chief of Police of Stockton Edward Chavez won the open-seat race to succeed outgoing Mayor Gary Podesto (R) who retired to pursue an unsuccessful run for the California State Senate.
• Virginia Beach- Incumbent Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf (D) was re-elected.

External links

• United States Election 2004 Web Archive from the U.S. Library of Congress