2004 Republican Party presidential primaries

2004 Republican Party presidential primaries

January 19 to June 8, 2004

Candidate George W. Bush Uncommitted Bill Wyatt Home state Texas n/a Unknown Contests won 49 0 0 Popular vote 7,853,863 91,926 10,937 Percentage 98.06% 1.15% 0.14%

Previous Republican nominee George W. Bush Republican nominee George W. Bush

The 2004 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Incumbent President George W. Bush was again selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 2004 Republican National Convention held from August 30 to September 2, 2004, in New York City.

Primary race overview

Incumbent President George W. Bush announced in mid-2003 that he would campaign for re-election; he faced no major challengers. He then went on, throughout early 2004, to win every nomination contest, including a sweep of Super Tuesday, beating back the vacuum of challengers and maintaining the recent tradition of an easy primary for incumbent Presidents (the last time an incumbent was seriously challenged in a presidential primary contest was when Senator Ted Kennedy challenged Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination in 1980). Bush managed to raise US$130 million in 2003 alone, and expected to set a national primary fund-raising record of $200 million by the time of the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City.

Several states and territories canceled their respective Republican primaries altogether, citing Bush being the only candidate to qualify on their respective ballot, including Connecticut, Florida, Mississippi, New York, Puerto Rico, and South Dakota.

Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, an opponent of the war in Iraq, Bush's tax cuts, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and much of Bush's social agenda, considered challenging Bush in the New Hampshire primary in the fall of 2003. He decided not to run, after the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003. He would later change his party affiliation to Democratic and run in that party's 2016 presidential primaries.

Candidates

Nominee

Candidate	Current office	Home state	Estimated delegate count (RCP)	Campaign status	States won	States - second place	States - third place
George W. Bush	President of the United States	Texas	2,508	Nominee	46+3 Iowa (caucus), New Hampshire, (Missouri, North Dakota (caucus), Oklahoma, South Carolina (convention)), (District of Columbia (caucus), Nevada (caucus), Tennessee), Wisconsin, Kansas (caucus), (California, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota (caucus), Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont), (Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas. Washington (caucus)), Illinois, Colorado (caucus), North Carolina (caucus), Utah (caucus), Pennsylvania, Indiana, Arizona (caucus), (West Virginia, Nebraska), Delaware (caucus), Maine (caucus), (Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon), Michigan (caucus), Idaho, (Alabama, New Mexico, South Dakota), Hawaii, (New Jersey, Montana) Non-states: Guam (caucus), (American Samoa (caucus), United States Virgin Islands (caucus))	' ' none	' ' none

Challengers

On the ballot in two or more primaries

• William Tsangares ran for president under the pseudonym "Bill Wyatt." The then-43-year-old T-shirt maker left the Democratic Party to become a Republican after Democrats voted for the war in Iraq, an action he saw as a betrayal. Tsangares traveled 12,000 miles and spent an estimated $20,000 on his Presidential campaign. He managed to get on the ballot in New Hampshire, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and even the Democratic Primary ballot in Arizona. He finished tenth in the New Hampshire primary with 0.23% of the vote (153 votes), placed second in Missouri, where he received 1,268 votes (1.03%). However, a major upset occurred on Mini-Tuesday when Tsangares won just over 10% of the vote in Oklahoma and 4% in Louisiana. He also received 233 votes (0.10%) in the Arizona Democratic primary.

• Blake Ashby, a Republican entrepreneur frustrated with the explosion of debt under President Bush, ran as a protest candidate in the Republican primaries. On the ballot in New Hampshire and Missouri, he spent approximately $20,000 on his campaign, visiting New Hampshire and campaigning in his home state of Missouri and participated in the C-Span Minor Candidates Forum He finished seventh in New Hampshire with 264 votes and third in Missouri with 981 votes.

Candidate	home state	total votes	%
Uncommitted	–	91,926	1.1%
(others)	various	49,281	0.8%
Bill Wyatt	California	10,847	0%
Blake Ashby	Missouri	1.145	0%

On the ballot in one primary

All but one of the following were on the ballot only in the state of New Hampshire.

• 
  Retired engineer Jack Fellure of West Virginia
  got 14 votes in the North Dakota Caucases
• 
  Actor Tom Laughlin of California

Candidate	Home state	total votes	%
Richard Bosa	New Hampshire	841	1.2%
John Buchanan	Georgia	836	1.2%
John Rigazio	New Hampshire	803	1.2%
Robert Haines	New Hampshire	579	0.9%
Michael Callis	New Hampshire	388	0.6%
Millie Howard	Ohio	239	0.4%
Tom Laughlin	California	154	0.2%
Jim Taylor		124	0.2%
Mark "Dick" Harnes		87	0.1%
Cornelius E. O'Connor,		77	0.1%
George Gostigian,		52	0.1%
Jack Fellure	West Virginia	14	0

Results

There were 2,509 total delegates to the 2004 Republican National Convention, of which 650 were so-called "superdelegates" who were not bound by any particular state's primary or caucus votes and could change their votes at any time. A candidate needs 1,255 delegates to become the nominee. Except for the Northern Mariana Islands and Midway Atoll, all states, territories, and other inhabited areas of the United States offer delegates to the 2004 Republican National Convention.

2004 Republican primaries and caucuses

Blake Ashby

Richard Bosa

George W. Bush

John Buchanan

Michael Callis

Jack Fellure

Robert Haines

Millie Howard

Tom Laughlin

John Rigazio

Bill Wyatt

Total Delegates¹

–

–

1608

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Superdelegates¹

–

–

168

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Jan. 19

Iowa³ (caucus)

–

–

100.00% (32)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Jan. 27

New Hampshire (primary)

0.39%

1.24%

79.55% (29)

1.23%

0.57%

–

0.85%

0.35%

0.23%

1.18%

0.23%

Feb. 3 (Mini Tuesday)

Missouri (primary)

0.80%

–

95.06% (57)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

1.03%

North Dakota (caucus)

–

–

99.11% (26)

–

–

0.69%

–

–

–

–

–

Oklahoma (primary)

–

–

90.00% (41)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

10.00%

South Carolina (convention)

–

–

100.00% (46)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Feb. 10

District of Columbia (caucus)

–

–

100.00% (16)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Tennessee (primary)

–

–

95.45% (39)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Feb. 17

Wisconsin (primary)

–

–

99.25% (37)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Mar. 2 (Super Tuesday)

California (primary)

–

–

100.00% (170)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Connecticut (none)

–

–

- (30)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Georgia (primary)

–

–

100.00% (66)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Maryland (primary)

–

–

100.00% (36)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Massachusetts (primary)

–

–

91.13% (41)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Minnesota (caucus)

–

–

100.00% (38)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

New York (none)

–

–

- (87)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Ohio (primary)

–

–

100.00% (81)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Rhode Island (primary)

–

–

84.89% (18)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Vermont (primary)

–

–

100.00% (15)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Mar. 9

Florida (primary)

–

–

- (109)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Louisiana (primary)

–

–

96.09% (41)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

3.91%

Mississippi (primary)

–

–

- (35)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Texas (primary)

–

–

92.49% (135)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Mar. 16

Illinois (primary)

–

–

100.00% (60)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Apr. 27

Pennsylvania (primary)

–

–

100.00%

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

May 4

Indiana (primary)

–

–

100.00% (27)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

May 11

West Virginia (primary)

–

–

100.00% (26)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

May 18

Arkansas (primary)

–

–

97.25% (32)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Kentucky (primary)

–

–

92.64% (43)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Oregon (primary)

–

–

- (28)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

May 25

Idaho (primary)

–

–

89.50% (24)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Jun. 1

Alabama (primary)

–

–

92.83% (45)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

New Mexico (primary)

–

–

100.00% (21)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

South Dakota (primary)

–

–

- (25)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Jun. 8

New Jersey (primary)

–

–

100.00% (52)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Color Key: 1st place   (delegates earned)   2nd place   (delegates earned)   3rd place   (delegates earned)     Withdrawn

Counties carried

Republican presidential primary, 2004 results by county (exceptions: Minnesota, Maryland, Nebraska & North Dakota – at-large)   George W. Bush   No votes/information available

See also

• 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries