2004 United States elections

2004 United States elections
← 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 → ; Presidential election year
Election day	November 2
Incumbent president	George W. Bush (Republican)
Next Congress	109th
Presidential election
Partisan control	Republican hold
Popular vote margin	Republican +2.4%
	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
Overall control	Republican hold
Seats contested	34 of 100 seats
Net seat change	Republican +4
	2004 Senate election results map
House elections
Overall control	Republican hold
Popular vote margin	Republican +2.6%
Net seat change	Republican +3
	2004 House election results map
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested	13 (11 states, 2 territories)
Net seat change	None
	2004 Gubernatorial election results map
Legend
	Democratic gain Republican gain; Democratic hold Republican hold; Popular Democratic hold Nonpartisan

The 2004 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004, during the early years of the war on terror and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Republican President George W. Bush won re-election and Republicans retained control of Congress.

Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts won his party's nomination after defeating Senator John Edwards and several other candidates in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. In the general election, Bush won 286 of the 538 electoral votes and 50.7 percent of the popular vote. 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.

Riding Bush's coattails, the Republicans picked up net gains of four Senate seats and three House seats. In the gubernatorial elections, neither party won a net gain of seats. Bush became the first president since Ronald Reagan in 1980 to see his party gain seats in both Houses of Congress during a presidential election year. Republicans would not win another trifecta until 2016.

Future President Barack Obama was elected to the United States Senate in Illinois, and he was elected president in the next presidential election.

As of 2020, this is the last time the incumbent party retained control over the presidency and Congress after a single term.

Federal elections

President

Republican incumbent President George W. Bush was re-elected, defeating Democratic Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts.

United States Senate

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 2004 United States Senate elections results

Parties		Democratic	Republican	Independent	Libertarian	Others	Total
Parties							Total
Before these elections		48	51	1	—	—	100
End of this Congress (two months later)		48	51	1	—	—	100
Not Up		29	36	1	—	—	66
Up		19	15	—	—	—	34

Incumbent retired	Total before	5	3	—	—	—	8
	Held by same party	—	1	—	—	—	1
	Replaced by other party	2 Republicans replaced by 2 Democrats 5 Democrats replaced by 5 Republicans		—	—	—	7
	Result after	2	6	—	—	—	8
Incumbent ran	Total before	14	12^[a]	—	—	—	26
	Won re-election	13	12	—	—	—	25
	Lost re-election	1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican		—	—	—	1
	Lost renomination, held by same party	—	—	—	—	—	0
	Lost renomination, and party lost	—	—	—	—	—	0
	Result after	13	13	—	—	—	26
Net gain/loss		4	4	—	—	—	4
Total elected		15	19	—	—	—	34

Result		44	55	1	—	—	100

Popular vote	Votes	44,754,618	39,920,562	186,231	754,861	2,481,075	88,097,347
Popular vote	Share	50.80%	45.31%	0.21%	0.86%	2.82%	100%

Sources:

Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Elections
United States Elections Project at George Mason University Archived 2013-07-09 at the Wayback Machine

United States House of Representatives

Republicans gained a couple of seats in the House, mainly due to the 2003 Texas redistricting. Republicans won the national popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 2.6 percentage points.^[1]

Summary of the 2004 United States House of Representatives elections results
Parties		Seats				Popular vote
Parties		2002	2004	Net change	Strength	Vote	%	Change
	Republican Party	229	232	3	53.3%	55,958,144	49.4%	-0.6%
	Democratic Party	205	202	3	46.4%	52,969,786	46.8%	+1.6%
	Libertarian Party	—	—	—	—	1,056,844	0.9%	-0.5%
	Independent	1	1	0	0.2%	674,202	0.6%	+0.1%
	Green Party	—	—	—	—	344,549	0.3%	-0.1%
	Constitution Party	—	—	—	—	187,006	0.2%	-
	Reform Party	—	—	—	—	85,539	0.1%	+0.1%
	Independence Party	—	—	—	—	76,053	0.1%	+0.1%
	Others	—	—	—	—	1,840,163	1.6%	-0.6%
Total		434	435	0	100.0%	113,192,286	100.0%	–
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

State elections

Governors

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.

State	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Delaware	Ruth Ann Minner	Democratic	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	Y Ruth Ann Minner (Democratic) 50.9% Bill Lee (Republican) 45.8% Frank Infante (Independent) 2.9%
Indiana	Joe Kernan	Democratic	2003^[b]	Incumbent lost re-election. New governor elected. Republican gain.	Y Mitch Daniels (Republican) 53.2% Joe Kernan (Democratic) 45.5% Kenn Gividen (Libertarian) 1.3%
Missouri	Bob Holden	Democratic	2000	Incumbent lost re-nomination. New governor elected. Republican gain.	Y Matt Blunt (Republican) 50.8% Claire McCaskill (Democratic) 47.8%
Montana	Judy Martz	Republican	2000	Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Democratic gain.	Y Brian Schweitzer (Democratic) 50.4% Bob Brown (Republican) 46.0% Bob Kelleher (Green) 1.9% Stan Jones (Libertarian) 1.7%
New Hampshire	Craig Benson	Republican	2002	Incumbent lost re-election. New governor elected. Democratic gain.	Y John Lynch (Democratic) 51.0% Craig Benson (Republican) 48.9%
North Carolina	Mike Easley	Democratic	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	Y Mike Easley (Democratic) 55.6% Patrick J. Ballantine (Republican) 42.9% Barbara Howe (Libertarian) 1.5%
North Dakota	John Hoeven	Republican	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	Y John Hoeven (Republican) 71.3% Joe Satrom (Democratic) 27.4% Roland Riemers (Libertarian) 1.3%
Utah	Olene Walker	Republican	2003^[c]	Incumbent lost re-nomination. New governor elected. Republican hold.	Y Jon Huntsman Jr. (Republican) 57.7% Scott Matheson Jr. (Democratic) 41.3%
Vermont	Jim Douglas	Republican	2002	Incumbent re-elected.	Y Jim Douglas (Republican) 58.7% Peter Clavelle (Democratic) 37.9% Cris Ericson (Marijuana) 1.4%
Washington	Gary Locke	Democratic	2000	Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y Christine Gregoire (Democratic) 48.9% Dino Rossi (Republican) 48.9% Ruth Bennett (Libertarian) 2.3%
West Virginia	Bob Wise	Democratic	2000	Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y Joe Manchin (Democratic) 63.5% Monty Warner (Republican) 34.0% Jesse Johnson (Mountain) 2.5%

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

State legislative elections

Elections to state legislatures were held on November 2, 2004, alongside other elections. Elections were held for 85 legislative chambers, with all states but Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Alabama, Maryland, and Virginia holding elections in at least one house. Michigan and Minnesota held elections for their lower, but not upper houses.^[2] Six chambers in three territories and the District of Columbia were up as well.

Republicans won control of four chambers including the Oklahoma House of Representatives for the first since 1922; the Georgia House of Representatives for the first time ever; the Tennessee Senate for the time since 1870; and the Indiana House of Representatives.

Democrats took control of eight legislative chambers including the Washington Senate; the Oregon Senate, which was previously tied; both houses of the Montana legislature; both houses of the Colorado legislature for the first time since 1963; the North Carolina House of Representatives- which was previously tied; and the Vermont House of Representatives. Additionally, the Iowa Senate became tied after previously being controlled by the GOP before the election.^[3]^[4] Democrats' takeover of the Montana House only came after the Montana Supreme Court declared a Democrat a victor in a contested election that evenly split the chamber. This gave Democrats control of the chamber with the help of incoming governor Brian Schweitzer.^[5]

The Democrats also regained the title of holding the most legislative seats across the country, winning one more seat than the Republicans.^[6] Republicans won a trifecta in Georgia for the first time ever.

Initiatives and referendums

State constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriage are passed in eleven states: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah. The measures in Oregon, Mississippi, and Montana bans same-sex marriage only, while Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Utah bans both same-sex marriage and civil unions and Michigan bans granting any benefits whatsoever to same-sex couples.^[7]

Local elections

Mayoral elections

Some of the major American cities that held their mayoral elections in 2004 included:

Chesapeake – Dalton S. Edge won an open seat race to succeed outgoing Mayor William E. Ward.^[8]
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.
San Diego – Incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy (R) was re-elected, but resigned five months later.^[9]