2004 United States presidential election in Illinois

← 2000 November 2, 2004 2008 →
Turnout	70.3% (of registered voters) 56.0% (of voting age population)
Nominee John Kerry George W. Bush Party Democratic Republican Home state Massachusetts Texas Running mate John Edwards Dick Cheney Electoral vote 21 0 Popular vote 2,891,550 2,345,946 Percentage 54.82% 44.48%
County results Congressional district results Kerry   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% Bush   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%
President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President George W. Bush Republican

The2004 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 21 representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.

Illinois was won by Democratic nomineeJohn Kerry by a 10.3% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this a state Kerry would win, or otherwise considered as a safeblue state. A reliableblue state that no Republican has won since Bush's fatherGeorge H. W. Bush in1988, Illinois voted forDemocratic SenatorJohn Kerry in 2004 with almost 55% of the vote.

Kerry's victory in Illinois was due to carrying seventy percent of the vote in theChicago area'sCook County, where about 43% of Illinois' population resides. Excluding Cook County, PresidentGeorge W. Bush would have won the state 54.6% (1,749,203 votes) to 45.3% (1,452,265 votes). President Bush was victorious in Chicago's collar counties, although the results in those counties were narrower than his victories downstate.

As of the2024 presidential election, this was the last presidential election in which a Democrat failed to carry any of Chicago's collar counties.^[1] This is the first election in which the Republican nominee has won the national popular vote without carrying Illinois. It also marks the only occurrence in which Illinois has voted for the losing candidate in two consecutive presidential elections (after it had voted against Bush in 2000). Bush was the first Republican to ever win two terms without ever carrying the state.

The primaries and general elections coincided with those forSenate andCongress, as well as those for state offices.

For the state-run primaries (Democratic and Republican), turnout was 25.23%, with 1,801,090 votes cast.^[2][3] For the general election, turnout was 70.33%, with 5,274,322 votes cast.^[2][3]

The2004 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on March 16 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of theDemocratic Party's statewide nomination contests ahead of the 2004 presidential election.

By the time of the Illinois primary, Kerry was seen as having all but formally secured the nomination.

2004Illinois Republican presidential primary

← 2000 March 16, 2004 (2004-03-16) 2008 →
73Republican National Convention delegates (60 pledged, 13 unpledged) Pledged delegates directly-elected in vote separate from statewide presidential preference vote
Candidate George W. Bush Home state Texas Delegate count 60 Popular vote 583,575 Percentage 100%
George W. Bush

The2004 Illinois Republican presidential primary was held on March 16, 2004, in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of theRepublican Party's state primaries ahead of the 2004 presidential election.

Incumbent presidentGeorge W. Bush won the primary. Bush was running for reelection without a major opponents, and with no opponents on the ballot in Illinois.

Illinois assigned 60 directly elected delegates (the state had another 13 delegates that were not directly elected by voters).^[5] The Illinois primary was a so-called "Loophole" primary. This meant that the statewide presidential preference vote was a "beauty contest", from which no delegates would be assigned. Instead, the delegates were assigned by separate direct-votes on delegate candidates (whose proclaimed presidential preferences were listed beside their names on the ballot).^[5] These delegates were noted voted on at-large by a state vote, but rather by congressional district votes.^[5] The number of delegates each congressional district would be able to elect had been decided based upon the strength of that district's vote for the Republican nominee (Bush) in the previous 2000 election.^[5] This meant that four delegates each were elected from Illinois's6th,8th,10th,11th,13th,14th,15th,16th,18th, and19th congressional districts, three delegates each were elected from Illinois's12th and17th congressional districts, and two delegates each were elected from Illinois's1st,2nd,3rd,4th,5th,7th, and9th congressional districts^[5]

Ten of the remaining delegates not directly elected by congressional district were selected at the Illinois Republican Party Convention, and were unpledged delegates.^[5] The other three would be unplugged ex-officio delegates, roles filled by the states National Committeeman, the National Committeewoman, and the chairman of the Illinois's Republican Party.^[5]

There were 12 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.^[6]

Kerry won every single pre-election poll. Out of the 12 polls taken, Kerry won 9 of them with 52% or higher. The final 3 polls averaged Kerry leading 54% to Bush with 41%.^[7]

Bush raised $6,892,187.^[8] Kerry raised $7,100,400.^[9]

Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election season because it was expected not to be competitive and Kerry had a solid lead in the state.^[10][11]

Illinois has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election from1992 on, each time by a double-digit margin. Prior to 1992, Illinois was considered a swing state with perhaps a slight Republican lean; until2000, no Republican had won the White House without carrying Illinois, and it voted Republican in every election from1952 to1988 except1960 and1964, even voting againstJimmy Carter in his winning1976 campaign. The blue trend in the "Land of Lincoln" in presidential elections can be largely attributed to the dramatic expansion of the Democratic margin inCook County, which contains the city of Chicago and its inner suburbs and makes up about 41.2% of the state's population.^[12] While Democrats routinely won Cook County following theNew Deal realignment except in some Republican landslide years (1952,1956,1972), until 1996, they did not themselves crack 60% in the county except in their own landslides of1936 and1964. In 1992, however, Clinton got 58.2% of the vote in Cook County, approaching 60% and a higher vote share than any nominee had received in the county since 1964, despite the election having three major participants. In1996, Clinton got 66.8% of the vote, blowing past Franklin Roosevelt's and Lyndon Johnson's vote shares in 1936 and 1964, respectively, and Gore only improved on this in 2000. In 2004, John Kerry became the first nominee of any party to crack 70% in Cook County sinceWarren G. Harding in1920, and the Democrat did not fall been below 70% in the county since until narrowly doing so in2024.

In addition, the historically Republican "collar counties" outside Chicago began trending less strongly Republican in the Clinton years, and this continued into the Bush years. In 1996, Clinton became the first Democrat to crack 40% in the largest collar county,DuPage County, since 1964, and Gore slightly improved on Clinton's vote share in 2000, holding Bush to a 13.3% margin in a countyFord had carried by 40.5% in1976 andGeorge H. W. Bush, by 39.4% in1988. In 2004, John Kerry improved on Gore's vote share in DuPage County by 2.9%, holding Bush to a single-digit margin of 9.6%--the smallest Republican margin of victory in the county since1892 (apart from the1912 election, when the Republican Party was divided and DuPage County voted forTheodore Roosevelt).

Outside the Chicago area, Kerry performed well in the traditionally Democratic region ofMetro East, as well as inChampaign County, a moderately populated historically Republican county that has voted Democratic in every election from 1992 on. Bush had done well in most of rural Illinois in 2000, and deepened his support there in 2004. However, given the developments in massively-populated Cook and DuPage Counties, this was not enough to materially influence the result.

As of the2024 presidential election, this is the last election in whichDeKalb County,DuPage County,Kane County,Lake County,Will County, andWinnebago County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.^[1]

• Franklin (Largest city:West Frankfort)
• Gallatin (Largest city:Shawneetown)
• Henry (Largest city:Kewanee)
• LaSalle (Largest city:Ottawa)
• Macon (Largest city:Decatur)
• Macoupin (Largest city:Carlinville)
• Montgomery (Largest city:Litchfield)
• Perry (Largest city:Du Quoin)
• Pulaski (Largest city:Mounds)

Kerry won ten of 19 congressional districts, including one that elected a Republican.^[13]

Technically the voters of Illinois cast their ballots for electors: representatives to theElectoral College. Illinois is allocated 21 electors because it has 19congressional districts and 2senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 21 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 21 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 afaithless elector.

The electors of each state and theDistrict 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 Illinois. All were pledged to and voted for Kerry and Edwards:^[14]

1. Constance A. Howard
2. Carrie Austin
3. Shirley R. Madigan
4. Tony Munoz
5. James DeLeo
6. Joan Brennan
7. Vera Davis
8. Linda Pasternak
9. William Marovitz
10. Dan Pierce
11. Debbie Halvorson
12. Molly McKenzie
13. Beth Ann May
14. Mary Lou Kearns
15. Lynn Foster
16. John Nelson
17. Mary Boland
18. Shirley McCombs
19. Jerry Sinclair
20. Barbara Flynn Currie
21. John Daley

• 2004 United States presidential election by state
• United States presidential elections in Illinois
• 2004 Illinois elections

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