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The Election of 2004:
A First Take
Bush and the GOP in 2004: Growing the Republican Majority
President Bush not only won a clear-cut reelection victory in 2004, but his fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill strengthened their majorities in each chamber. This year's voting also left the GOP in control of a majority of the nation's governorships. Not everything is settled, though. The governorship in Washington was still undecided as of Dec. 7.
PRESIDENTIAL (Electoral Votes) Republicans Democrats Other SENATE Republicans Democrats Independent HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Republicans Democrats Independents GOVERNORS Republicans Democrats Independents Undetermined
A Year for Republicans, a Year for Incumbents:
Few Defeated in 2004
2004 was not only a pro-Republican year, but a pro-incumbent year as well. Only one senator and seven House members lost their seats in November, and four of the latter were Democratic casualties of a controversial, GOP-orchestrated remap in Texas. This followed a quiet primary season in which no senators and just two House incumbents, Texas Democrats Chris Bell and Ciro Rodriguez, were defeated.
As has been the case in recent years, the real volatility was in the gubernatorial races. Two governors were denied renomination, Democrat Bob Holden of Missouri and Republican Olene Walker of Utah. Two others were beaten in November.
The 2004 results below are based on official returns for all states except Indiana, Illinois and New Hampshire, where the results are nearly complete but unofficial. An asterisk (*) indicates the Republican House incumbents in Texas who were paired against Democratic incumbents; @ indicates that the incumbent was unelected and took office in the middle of a term.
SENATORS (1) (1 Democrat) Tom Daschle, D-S.D. REPRESENTATIVES (7) (5 Democrats, 2 Republicans) Max Burns, R-Ga. 12 Phil Crane, R-Ill. 8 Baron Hill, D-Ind. 9 Max Sandlin, D-Texas 1 Nick Lampson, D-Texas 2 Charles Stenholm, D-Texas 19 Martin Frost, D-Texas 32 GOVERNORS (2) (1 Democrat, 1 Republican) Joseph Kernan, D-Ind. Craig Benson, R-N.H.
Counting the 2004 Vote
The vote for president and the House of Representatives closely tracked each other in 2004, as Republicans won a majority of the vote at each level by roughly 2.5 percentage points over the Democrats. The GOP also captured a majority of Senate seats at stake Nov. 2, although Democrats won more votes, due in large part to their landslide Senate wins in California, Illinois and New York. The results in this and other charts in this issue are based on official returns from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. However, small changes in the vote are certain to occur in a few states, including Ohio, where the results of a recount of the presidential vote were announced after the charts for this issue were prepared. As a consequence, the numbers presented here can be considered the “Ivory Soap” version, “99.44% pure” (or in this case, final).
PluralityPresident (Electoral Vote) House of Representatives* Senate Governor#
Note: An asterisk (*) indicates that two House seats in Louisiana were filled in runoff elections Dec. 4. The aggregate nationwide House vote is based on the contests held Nov. 2 and does not include votes cast in the Louisiana runoffs. A pound sign (#) indicates that the gubernatorial election in Washington, while certified for the Democrat, is too close to be placed with certainty in the Democratic column. In a handful of states, most notably New York, the names of major party candidates may also be listed on third-party ballot lines. These votes are included in the tallies of the major parties.