2004 United States Senate election in Florida
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The 2004 United States Senate election in Florida took place on November 2, 2004 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Graham decided to retire instead of seeking a fourth term. The primary elections were held on August 31, 2004. Republican Mel Martínez won the open seat.
Democratic primary
Candidates
- Betty Castor, former President of the University of South Florida, former Education Commissioner of Florida, and former State Senator
- Peter Deutsch, U.S. Representative
- Bernard Klein, businessman
- Alex Penelas, Mayor of Miami-Dade County
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Betty Castor | 669,346 | 58.1 | |
| Democratic | Peter Deutsch | 321,922 | 27.9 | |
| Democratic | Alex Penelas | 115,898 | 10.1 | |
| Democratic | Bernard E. Klein | 45,347 | 3.9 | |
| Total votes | 1,152,513 | 100 | ||
Republican primary
Martínez was supported by the Bush Administration.
Candidates
- Johnnie Byrd, State Representative
- Doug Gallagher, businessman
- Larry Klayman, attorney
- William Kogut
- Sonya March
- Mel Martínez, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- Bill McCollum, former U.S. Representative and unsuccessful nominee for Florida's other U.S. Senate seat in 2000
- Karen Saull
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mel Martínez | 522,994 | 44.9 | |
| Republican | Bill McCollum | 360,474 | 30.9 | |
| Republican | Doug Gallagher | 158,360 | 13.6 | |
| Republican | Johnnie Byrd | 68,982 | 5.9 | |
| Republican | Karen Saull | 20,365 | 1.7 | |
| Republican | Sonya March | 17,804 | 1.5 | |
| Republican | Larry Klayman | 13,257 | 1.1 | |
| Republican | William Billy Kogut | 3,695 | 0.3 | |
| Total votes | 1,165,931 | 100 | ||
General election
Candidates
- Dennis Bradley (V), activist
- Betty Castor (D), former State Senator
- Mel Martínez (R), Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Campaign
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Until the spring of 2004, Castor's fundraising was much slower than her Democratic and Republican rivals[citation needed]. In the spring, the campaign hired fundraising staff from the defunct presidential campaigns of Howard Dean and Bob Graham[citation needed], and subsequently posted much higher fundraising numbers over the summer[citation needed]. Online grassroots techniques devised for the Dean campaign (Castor became a Dean Dozen candidate in August[citation needed]) were one contributing factor[citation needed]: another was the support of EMILY's List[citation needed], which named Castor as its highest-rated candidate for the 2004 election cycle[citation needed], even when her support for banning intact dilation and extraction (D&X) abortions was not in line with the EMILY's List support for woman's issues[citation needed]. The latter was a source of criticism during the August primary heat - a complaint was filed by a Deutsch supporter with the Federal Election Commission accusing inappropriate coordination with EMILY's List[citation needed]. The complaint was dismissed by the Federal Election Commission in 2005[citation needed].
Castor's handling of Sami Al-Arian became another source of criticism during the campaign[citation needed]. In June, The American Democracy Project, a 527 group founded by Bernie Friedman[citation needed], began attacking Castor's handling of the incident, alleging that she had sufficient evidence to fire Al-Arian in the mid-1990s[citation needed]. Castor responded by stating that she never had sufficient evidence to fire Al-Arian, who was a tenured professor at the time[citation needed]. On June 29, Senator Graham, who had previously remained outside of the Al-Arian controversy, released a statement that "Betty Castor acted appropriately as President of the University of South Florida to deal with Sami Al-Arian"[citation needed]: later, Graham and Senator Bill Nelson brokered an agreement between the Democratic candidates to refrain from negative campaigning against each other[citation needed], although this agreement appeared to break down in the final weeks of the race, when Deutsch launched attack ads on television[citation needed].
Despite these controversies, Castor won the Democratic nomination on August 31. She was defeated, however, by Republican candidate Mel Martínez in a close race on November 2, 2004. The overwhelming support for Martínez among Latinos effectively counterbalanced Castor's relatively high popularity among swing voters throughout the state.
There was some speculation that Castor would run for Governor of Florida in 2006 to replace Jeb Bush, who was ineligible for re-election due to term limits, but she announced in 2005 that she would not be a candidate.
Polling
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Betty Castor (D) |
Mel Martínez (R) |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quinnipiac | October 22–26, 2004 | 944 | ± 3.2 | 46% | 49% | 0% | 5% |
| Quinnipiac | October 15–19, 2004 | 808 | ± 3.5 | 47% | 47% | 0% | 5% |
| Quinnipiac | October 1–5, 2004 | 717 | ± 3.7 | 47% | 48% | 0% | 5% |
| Quinnipiac | September 18–21, 2004 | 819 | ± 3.4 | 43% | 42% | 0% | 14% |
| Poll Source[3] | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of Error |
Mel Martínez (R) |
Betty Castor (D) |
Unde- cided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zogby International | October 31 | 600 | ± 4.0% | 46% | 46% | 7% |
| Quinnipiac University | October 31 | 1098 | ± 3.0% | 49% | 44% | 6% |
| CNN/USA Today/Gallup | October 28 | 1138 | ± 4.0% | 46% | 48% | 5% |
| Mason Dixon | October 26 | 625 | ± 4.0% | 47% | 46% | 6% |
| New York Times | October 23 | 802 | ± 3.0% | 44% | 47% | 10% |
| Quinnipiac University | October 22 | 944 | ± 3.2% | 49% | 46% | 5% |
| Insider Advantage | October 22 | 400 | ± 5.0% | 46% | 44% | 4% |
| Survey USA | October 22 | 741 | ± 3.7% | 47% | 50% | 12% |
| Miami Herald | October 19 | 800 | ± 3.5% | 44% | 44% | - |
| Research 2000 | October 18 | 600 | ± 4.0% | 48% | 48% | 4% |
| Quinnipiac University | October 15 | 808 | ± 3.5% | 47% | 47% | 5% |
| Survey USA | October 15 | 596 | ± 4.1% | 49% | 47% | 1% |
| Mason-Dixon | October 14 | 625 | ± 4.0% | 45% | 45% | 9% |
| UNF | October 10 | 641 | ± 4.0% | 35% | 38% | 12% |
| Mason-Dixon | October 4 | 625 | ± 4.0% | 46% | 41% | 12% |
| Mason-Dixon | October 4 | 625 | ± 4.0% | 46% | 41% | 12% |
| Quinnipiac University | October 1 | 706 | ± 3.8% | 48% | 47% | 5% |
| Survey USA | October 1 | 706 | ± 3.8% | 50% | 46% | 1% |
| Gallup | Sept. 18 | 674 | ± 4.0% | 45% | 51% | 4% |
| Quinnipiac University | Sept. 18 | 819 | ± 3.4% | 42% | 43% | 13% |
| Survey USA | Sept. 12 | 602 | ± 4.1% | 45% | 49% | 1% |
| Rasmussen Reports | August 24 | 500 | ± 4.5% | 44% | 44% | - |
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mel Martínez | 3,672,864 | 49.4% | +11.9% | |
| Democratic | Betty Castor | 3,590,201 | 48.3% | −14.2% | |
| Veterans | Dennis F. Bradley | 166,642 | 2.2% | +2.2% | |
| Write-ins | 187 | 0.00% | |||
| Majority | 82,663 | 1.1% | |||
| Total votes | 7,429,894 | 100 | |||
| Republican gain from Democratic | Swing | ||||
References
- ^ https://doe.dos.state.fl.us/elections/resultsarchive/Index.asp?ElectionDate=8/31/2004&DATAMODE=
- ^ https://doe.dos.state.fl.us/elections/resultsarchive/Index.asp?ElectionDate=8/31/2004&DATAMODE=
- ^ http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Presidential_04/fl_polls.html
- ^ http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2004/2004Stat.htm#9