| ←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, andBlue denotes those won by Democrat John Kerry. Numbers indicateelectoral 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 | 0 |
 | |
| 2004 gubernatorial election results map | |
| Legend | |
| Democratic gain Republican gain Democratic hold Republican hold Popular Democratic hold Nonpartisan | |
Elections were held in the United States on November 2, 2004, during the early years of thewar on terror and after the2003 invasion of Iraq.Republican PresidentGeorge W. Bush won re-election and Republicans retained control ofCongress.
Democratic SenatorJohn Kerry of Massachusetts won his party's nomination after defeating SenatorJohn Edwards and several other candidates in the2004 Democratic presidential primaries. In the general election, Bush won 286 of the 538electoral 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'scoattails, the Republicans picked up net gains of fourSenate seats and threeHouse seats. In the gubernatorial elections, neither party won a net gain of seats. Bush became the first president sinceRonald 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 until2016.
Future PresidentBarack Obama waselected to the United States Senate in Illinois, and he was elected president inthe next presidential election.
As of2024, 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 in2012, but control of Congress remained split.
Republican incumbent PresidentGeorge W. Bush was re-elected, defeatingDemocratic SenatorJohn Kerry fromMassachusetts.
The 34 seats in theUnited States SenateClass 3 were up for election. Republicans had a net gain of 4 seats.Summary of the2004 United States Senate elections results
| Parties | Total | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Republican | Independent | Libertarian | Others | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Before these elections | 48 | 51 | 1 | — | — | 100 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| End ofthis 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Share | 50.80% | 45.31% | 0.21% | 0.86% | 2.82% | 100% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sources:
Republicans gained a couple of seats in the House, mainly due to the2003 Texas redistricting. Republicans won the national popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 2.6 percentage points.[1]
| Parties | Seats | Popular vote | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||||||||
Eleven of the fiftyUnited States governors were up for re-election, as were the governorships of twoU.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.
In many states where if the following positions were elective offices, voters cast votes for candidates for state executive branch offices ofLieutenant 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, Commissionersof Insurance, Agriculture or, Labor, etc.) and state judicial branch offices (seats onstate Supreme Courts and, in some states, state appellate courts).
Elections tostate legislatures were held on November 2, 2004, alongside other elections. Elections were held for 85 legislative chambers, with all states butLouisiana,Mississippi,New Jersey,Alabama,Maryland, andVirginia holding elections in at least one house.Michigan andMinnesota held elections for their lower, but not upper houses.[2] Six chambers in three territories and theDistrict 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 theNortheast andWest and most Republican gains coming from theSouth. Over 20 states featured statehouses controlled by fewer than four seats, and nearly 30 states featureddivided governments. Both parties took advantage of heavy spending from527 organizations.[3]
Republicans won control of four chambers from the Democrats. The institution ofterm limits contributed to the Republican takeover of theOklahoma House of Representatives for the first time since 1923, and favorable redistricting aided Republicans in winning theGeorgia House of Representatives (and a trifecta) for the first time ever.[3] Republicans additionally won theTennessee Senate, for the time since 1870, and theIndiana House of Representatives.[4][5]
Democrats performed better than Republicans overall at the state-legislative level, despite their defeat in theconcurrent presidential election, winning control of eight additional chambers. Favorable redistricting enabled the Democratic takeover of theMontana Legislature and their retaking of control of theNorth Carolina House of Representatives, which was previously tied.[3] Additionally, they took control of theWashington Senate; theOregon Senate, which was previously tied; both houses of theColorado General Assembly for the first time since 1963, and theVermont House of Representatives. The Iowa Senate became tied after previously being controlled by the Republicans prior to the election.[4][5] Democrats' takeover of theMontana House only came after theMontana 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 governorBrian 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]
Some of the major American cities that held their mayoral elections in 2004 included:
