Elections were held in the United States on 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 2024, this is the last time the incumbent party retained control over both the presidency and Congress after a single term. Democrats would maintain control of the presidency in 2012, but control of Congress remained split.

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 Total
Democratic Republican Independent Libertarian Others
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 Decrease 2 Republicans replaced by Increase 2 Democrats
Decrease 5 Democrats replaced by Increase 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 Decrease 1 Democrat replaced by Increase 1 Republican — — — 1
Lost renomination, held by same party — — — — — 0
Lost renomination, and party lost — — — — — 0
Result after 13 13 — — — 26
Net gain/loss Decrease 4 Increase 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
Share 50.80% 45.31% 0.21% 0.86% 2.82% 100%

Sources:

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
2002 2004 Net
change		 Strength Vote % Change
Republican Party 229 232 Increase 3 53.3% 55,958,144 49.4% -0.6%
Democratic Party 205 202 Decrease 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.

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

These paragraphs are an excerpt from 2004 United States 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.

The 2004 elections created narrow legislative divisions across the country. Both parties flipped seats and chambers across the country, with most Democratic gains coming from the Northeast and West and most Republican gains coming from the South. Over 20 states featured statehouses controlled by fewer than four seats, and nearly 30 states featured divided governments. Both parties took advantage of heavy spending from 527 organizations.[3]

Republicans won control of four chambers from the Democrats. The institution of term limits contributed to the Republican takeover of the Oklahoma House of Representatives for the first time since 1923, and favorable redistricting aided Republicans in winning the Georgia House of Representatives (and a trifecta) for the first time ever.[3] Republicans additionally won the Tennessee Senate, for the time since 1870, and the Indiana House of Representatives.[4][5]

Democrats performed better than Republicans overall at the state-legislative level, despite their defeat in the concurrent presidential election, winning control of eight additional chambers. Favorable redistricting enabled the Democratic takeover of the Montana Legislature and their retaking of control of the North Carolina House of Representatives, which was previously tied.[3] Additionally, they took control of the Washington Senate; the Oregon Senate, which was previously tied; both houses of the Colorado General Assembly for the first time since 1963, and the Vermont House of Representatives. The Iowa Senate became tied after previously being controlled by the Republicans prior to the election.[4][5] 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.[6]

The Democrats also regained the title of holding the most legislative seats across the country, winning one more seat than the Republicans.[5]

Initiatives and referendums

Vote for same-sex marriage ban by counties:
  90% – 100%
  80% – 90%
  70% – 80%
  60% – 70%
  50% – 60%
Vote against same-sex marriage ban by counties:
  60% – 70%
  50% – 60%

Local elections

Mayoral elections

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

Notes

  1. ↑ Includes the interim appointee ran for election.

References

  1. ↑ "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 2004" (PDF). U.S. House of Reps, Office of the Clerk. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  2. ↑ "State legislative elections, 2004".
  3. 1 2 3 Prah, Pamela M. (November 15, 2007). "2004 elections set up year of legislative stalemate". stateline.org. Archived from the original on November 7, 2008. Retrieved August 12, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Madigan, Erin; Kelderman, Eric (November 5, 2004). "GOP Loses Ground in Statehouse Control". pew.org. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Storey, Tim (2005). "2004 legislative elections". Spectrum: The Journal of State Government. 78 (1): 8 – via Gale Academic OneFile.
  6. ↑ Robbins, Jim (December 29, 2004). "Ruling Puts Democrats in Control in Montana". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  7. ↑ "(365Gay)". Archived from the original on June 17, 2008. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  8. ↑ Armstrong, Kevin (January 10, 2008). "Chesapeake mayor Dalton Edge won't run for second term". The Virginian-Pilot.
  9. ↑ Dillon, Jeff (April 25, 2005). "San Diego mayor announces departure less than 5 months into second term". San Diego Union-Tribune.

Further reading

  • Ceaser, James W. and Andrew E. Busch. Red Over Blue: The 2004 Elections and American Politics (2005), narrative history.
  • Greene, John C. and Mark J. Rozell, eds. The Values Campaign?: The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections (2006).
  • Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash And Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005).
  • Stempel III, Guido H. and Thomas K. Hargrove, eds. The 21st-Century Voter: Who Votes, How They Vote, and Why They Vote (2 vol. 2015).
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_United_States_elections