2004 United States presidential election in West Virginia

Main article: 2004 United States presidential election

2004 United States presidential election in West Virginia

November 2, 2004

Nominee George W. Bush John Kerry Party Republican Democratic Home state Texas Massachusetts Running mate Dick Cheney John Edwards Electoral vote 5 0 Popular vote 423,778 326,541 Percentage 56.06% 43.20%

County Results Bush   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Kerry   50-60%   60-70%

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President George W. Bush Republican

The 2004 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 5 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

West Virginia was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 12.86% margin of victory. Prior to the election, 8 of 12 news organizations considered this a state Bush would win, or otherwise considered as a red state, while others considered it as a swing state. Democrat President Bill Clinton easily won this state in 1992 and 1996, but Bush carried the state in 2000 with just 51.92% of the vote. On election day, President Bush won here with a 6.53% better margin than his performance in 2000, signaling that the state was trending Republican at the presidential level. This was despite the fact that over 50% of the state's population were registered Democrats and both senators were Democrats.

This also marked the last election in which West Virginia voted for the same presidential candidate as neighbouring Virginia. Since then, West Virginia would vote for the Republican presidential candidate whilst neighbouring Virginia would vote for the Democratic candidate. As of the 2016 presidential election, this is the last election in which Fayette County, Brooke County, Logan County, and Mingo County voted for the Democratic candidate. Bush was the first Republican president since William McKinley to win re-election nationwide while carrying West Virginia in both elections.

Campaign

Predictions

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

1. D.C. Political Report: Lean Republican
2. Associated Press: Toss-up
3. CNN: Bush
4. Cook Political Report: Lean Republican
5. Newsweek: Lean Bush
6. New York Times: Leans Bush
7. Rasmussen Reports: Bush
8. Research 2000: Toss-up
9. Washington Post: Battleground
10. Washington Times: Battleground
11. Zogby International: Bush
12. Washington Dispatch: Bush

Polling

Early on, pre-election polling showed the election as a pure toss up. But after September 14, Bush pulled away and reached 50% or higher in the polls. The final 3 poll average showed Bush leading 50% to 44%.

Fundraising

Bush raised $527,380. Kerry raised $627,425.

Advertising and visits

Bush visited the state 8 times. Kerry visited the state 6 times. A total of between $100,000 to $550,000 was spent each week. As the election went on, both tickets spent less and less here each week.

Analysis

More than any other state, West Virginia highlighted Kerry's trouble in Appalachian America. It swung heavily to the Democrats during the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt and remained reliably Democratic for most of the next 68 years. It often voted for Democrats (such as Jimmy Carter and Mike Dukakis) who went on to big national defeats. This was largely due to its blue-collar, heavily unionized workers, especially coal miners, who favored Democratic economic policy. Starting with Al Gore, however, the state's voters became more concerned with environmental policies advocated by the Democrats, especially regarding coal, which is a large source of jobs in the state. This made them more receptive to Republicans.

Results

2004 United States presidential election in West Virginia
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Popular vote		Electoral vote		Swing
				Count	%	Count	%
	Republican	George W. Bush of Texas	Dick Cheney of Wyoming	423,778	56.06%	5	100.00%	4.14%
	Democratic	John Kerry of Massachusetts	John Edwards of North Carolina	326,541	43.20%	0	0.00%	2.39%
	Independent	Ralph Nader of Connecticut	Peter Camejo of California	4,063	0.54%	0	0.00%	0.54%
	Libertarian	Michael Badnarik of Texas	Richard Campagna of Iowa	1,405	0.19%	0	0.00%	0.11%
	Independent	John Kennedy (write-in) of -	- of -	13	0.00%	0	0.00%
	Mountain	David Cobb (write-in) of Texas	Pat LaMarche of Maine	5	0.00%	0	0.00%	1.65%
Total				755,887	100.00%	5	100.00%

Results breakdown

By county

County	Bush #	Bush %	Kerry #	Kerry %	Other #	Other %	Total #
Barbour	3,975	59.77%	2,636	39.63%	40	0.60%	6651
Berkeley	20,724	63.09%	11,888	36.19%	236	0.72%	32848
Boone	4,163	41.18%	5,890	58.26%	57	0.56%	10110
Braxton	2,964	49.33%	3,014	50.17%	30	0.50%	6008
Brooke	5,147	48.13%	5,460	51.06%	86	0.80%	10693
Cabell	20,777	55.51%	16,328	43.63%	323	0.86%	37428
Calhoun	1,569	54.92%	1,253	43.86%	35	1.23%	2857
Clay	2,183	53.95%	1,824	45.08%	39	0.96%	4046
Doddridge	2,340	73.96%	792	25.03%	32	1.01%	3164
Fayette	7,767	46.40%	8,860	52.93%	112	0.67%	16739
Gilmer	1,660	58.43%	1,153	40.58%	28	0.99%	2841
Grant	4,005	80.62%	944	19.00%	19	0.38%	4968
Greenbrier	6,743	57.06%	4,988	42.21%	87	0.74%	11818
Hampshire	5,465	68.66%	2,444	30.70%	51	0.64%	7960
Hancock	7,224	50.98%	6,829	48.19%	117	0.83%	14170
Hardy	3,600	68.83%	1,606	30.71%	24	0.46%	5230
Harrison	16,913	55.93%	13,102	43.32%	227	0.75%	30242
Jackson	7,604	58.43%	5,332	40.97%	77	0.59%	13013
Jefferson	10,442	52.76%	9,202	46.50%	147	0.74%	19791
Kanawha	43,777	50.57%	42,321	48.89%	472	0.55%	86570
Lewis	3,500	64.46%	1,863	34.31%	67	1.23%	5430
Lincoln	2,175	47.49%	2,378	51.92%	27	0.59%	4580
Logan	6,513	45.44%	7,760	54.14%	59	0.41%	14332
Marion	12,717	50.73%	12,082	48.20%	267	1.07%	25066
Marshall	8,443	56.51%	6,379	42.70%	118	0.79%	14940
Mason	6,451	54.13%	5,374	45.09%	93	0.78%	11918
McDowell	2,729	37.76%	4,464	61.76%	35	0.48%	7228
Mercer	12,914	58.41%	9,052	40.94%	142	0.64%	22108
Mineral	7,640	68.42%	3,444	30.84%	83	0.74%	11167
Mingo	4,544	43.21%	5,912	56.22%	60	0.57%	10516
Monongalia	17,459	51.48%	16,136	47.58%	317	0.93%	33912
Monroe	3,596	60.22%	2,321	38.87%	54	0.90%	5971
Morgan	3,978	64.99%	2,086	34.08%	57	0.93%	6121
Nicholas	5,389	52.92%	4,718	46.33%	76	0.75%	10183
Ohio	11,539	57.42%	8,406	41.83%	152	0.76%	20097
Pendleton	2,120	60.50%	1,367	39.01%	17	0.49%	3504
Pleasants	2,023	59.87%	1,333	39.45%	23	0.68%	3379
Pocahontas	2,282	58.56%	1,565	40.16%	50	1.28%	3897
Preston	7,813	65.85%	3,944	33.24%	107	0.90%	11864
Putnam	15,587	62.50%	9,223	36.98%	129	0.52%	24939
Raleigh	18,072	60.70%	11,522	38.70%	180	0.60%	29774
Randolph	6,495	56.70%	4,880	42.60%	80	0.70%	11455
Ritchie	3,060	73.58%	1,060	25.49%	39	0.94%	4159
Roane	3,424	56.42%	2,599	42.82%	46	0.76%	6069
Summers	2,963	53.94%	2,489	45.31%	41	0.75%	5493
Taylor	2,673	57.55%	1,943	41.83%	29	0.62%	4645
Tucker	2,151	60.54%	1,382	38.90%	20	0.56%	3553
Tyler	2,770	65.97%	1,386	33.01%	43	1.02%	4199
Upshur	6,134	66.68%	2,998	32.59%	67	0.73%	9199
Wayne	9,998	54.08%	8,363	45.23%	128	0.69%	18489
Webster	1,706	46.45%	1,943	52.90%	24	0.65%	3673
Wetzel	3,609	51.90%	3,293	47.35%	52	0.75%	6954
Wirt	1,351	64.58%	714	34.13%	27	1.29%	2092
Wood	22,788	63.06%	13,111	36.28%	239	0.66%	36138
Wyoming	4,930	57.09%	3,666	42.46%	39	0.45%	8635

By congressional district

Bush won all three congressional districts.

District	Bush	Kerry	Representative
1st	58%	42%	Alan Mollohan
2nd	57%	42%	Shelley Moore Capito
3rd	53%	46%	Nick Rahall

Electors

Main article: List of 2004 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of WV cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. WV is allocated 5 electors because it has 3 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 5 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 5 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 5 were pledged for Bush/Cheney:

1. Rob Capehart
2. Doug McKinney
3. Dan Moore
4. Richie Robb
5. Larry Faircloth