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| Turnout | 65.85% (of registered voters) 54.74% (of voting age population)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County results Congressional district results
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The2004 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 5 representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
West Virginia was won by incumbent PresidentGeorge W. Bush by a 12.86% margin of victory. Prior to the election, 8 of 12 news organizations considered this a state Bush would win, or otherwise considered as ared state, while others considered it aswing state. Democratic PresidentBill Clinton easily won this state in1992 and1996, but Bush carried the state in2000 with just 51.92% of the vote. West Virginia is the only state to vote againstGeorge H. W. Bush both times and vote for George W. Bush both times. On election day, President Bush won here with a 6.53% better margin than his performance in 2000, signaling that the state was trending Republican at the presidential level. This was despite the fact that more than 50% of the state's population were registered Democrats, and both senators were Democrats.
This also marked the last election in which West Virginia voted for the same presidential candidate as neighboring Virginia, and the first election since1944 in which West Virginia voted more Republican than Virginia. In all subsequent U.S. presidential races since 2004, the Republican nominee won West Virginia while the Democratic nominee won Virginia. This is the last presidential election in whichFayette County,Brooke County,Logan County, andMingo County voted Democratic. Bush was the first Republican sinceWilliam McKinley in1900 to carry West Virginia twice.
There were 12 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.[2]
| Source | Ranking |
|---|---|
| D.C. Political Report | Likely R |
| Associated Press | Toss-up |
| CNN | Likely R |
| Cook Political Report | Lean R |
| Newsweek | Lean R |
| New York Times | Lean R |
| Rasmussen Reports | Likely R |
| Research 2000 | Toss-up |
| Washington Post | Toss-up |
| Washington Times | Toss-up |
| Zogby International | Likely R |
| Washington Dispatch | Likely R |
Early on, pre-election polling showed the election as a pure toss up. But after September 14, Bush pulled ahead and reached 50% or higher in the polls. The average of the final three polls showed Bush leading 50% to 44%.[3]
Bush raised $527,380.[4] Kerry raised $627,425.[5]
Bush visited the state eight times; Kerry visited the state six times.[6] A total of between $100,000 and $550,000 was spent each week. As the election went on, both tickets spent less and less here each week.[7]
More than any other state, West Virginia highlighted Kerry's trouble in Appalachian America. It swung heavily to the Democrats during the days ofFranklin D. Roosevelt and remained reliably Democratic for most of the next 68 years. The state voted for Democrats (such asJimmy Carter andMike Dukakis) who went on to big national defeats. This was largely due to its blue-collar, heavily unionized workers, especially coal miners, who favored Democratic economic policy.
Starting with George W. Bush, however, the state's voters became more receptive to Republicans.
| 2004 United States presidential election in West Virginia[8] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Popular vote | Electoral vote | Swing | ||||
| Count | % | Count | % | ||||||
| Republican | George W. Bush ofTexas(incumbent) | Dick Cheney ofWyoming(incumbent) | 423,778 | 56.06% | 5 | 100.00% |  4.14% | ||
| Democratic | John Kerry ofMassachusetts | John Edwards ofNorth Carolina | 326,541 | 43.20% | 0 | 0.00% |  2.39% | ||
| Independent | Ralph Nader ofConnecticut | Peter Camejo ofCalifornia | 4,063 | 0.54% | 0 | 0.00% | 0.54% | ||
| Libertarian | Michael Badnarik ofTexas | Richard Campagna ofIowa | 1,405 | 0.19% | 0 | 0.00% | 0.11% | ||
| Write-in | Michael Peroutka of - | - of - | 82 | 0.01% | 0 | 0.00% |  | ||
| Independent | John Kennedy (write-in) of - | - of - | 13 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | | ||
| Mountain | David Cobb (write-in) ofTexas | Pat LaMarche ofMaine | 5 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 1.65% | ||
| Total | 755,887 | 100.00% | 5 | 100.00% | |||||
| County | George W. Bush Republican | John Kerry Democratic | Various candidates Other parties | Margin | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Barbour | 4,004 | 60.17% | 2,610 | 39.22% | 41 | 0.62% | 1,394 | 20.95% | 6,655 |
| Berkeley | 21,293 | 63.03% | 12,244 | 36.24% | 248 | 0.73% | 9,049 | 26.79% | 33,785 |
| Boone | 4,207 | 41.25% | 5,933 | 58.18% | 58 | 0.57% | -1,726 | -16.93% | 10,198 |
| Braxton | 2,986 | 49.35% | 3,035 | 50.16% | 30 | 0.50% | -49 | -0.81% | 6,051 |
| Brooke | 5,189 | 48.17% | 5,493 | 50.99% | 91 | 0.85% | -304 | -2.82% | 10,773 |
| Cabell | 21,035 | 55.43% | 16,583 | 43.70% | 332 | 0.87% | 4,452 | 11.73% | 37,950 |
| Calhoun | 1,588 | 54.97% | 1,266 | 43.82% | 35 | 1.22% | 322 | 11.15% | 2,889 |
| Clay | 2,198 | 53.98% | 1,835 | 45.06% | 39 | 0.95% | 363 | 8.92% | 4,072 |
| Doddridge | 2,362 | 74.30% | 800 | 25.17% | 17 | 0.54% | 1,562 | 49.13% | 3,179 |
| Fayette | 7,881 | 46.45% | 8,971 | 52.87% | 115 | 0.68% | -1,090 | -6.42% | 16,967 |
| Gilmer | 1,665 | 58.38% | 1,159 | 40.64% | 28 | 0.99% | 506 | 17.74% | 2,852 |
| Grant | 4,063 | 80.50% | 963 | 19.08% | 21 | 0.42% | 3,100 | 61.42% | 5,047 |
| Greenbrier | 8,358 | 57.43% | 6,084 | 41.81% | 111 | 0.77% | 2,274 | 15.62% | 14,553 |
| Hampshire | 5,489 | 68.65% | 2,455 | 30.70% | 52 | 0.65% | 3,034 | 37.95% | 7,996 |
| Hancock | 7,298 | 50.96% | 6,906 | 48.22% | 117 | 0.82% | 392 | 2.74% | 14,321 |
| Hardy | 3,635 | 68.90% | 1,617 | 30.65% | 24 | 0.46% | 2,018 | 38.25% | 5,276 |
| Harrison | 17,111 | 55.94% | 13,238 | 43.28% | 239 | 0.79% | 3,873 | 12.66% | 30,588 |
| Jackson | 7,686 | 58.41% | 5,384 | 40.92% | 88 | 0.66% | 2,302 | 17.49% | 13,158 |
| Jefferson | 10,539 | 52.71% | 9,301 | 46.52% | 153 | 0.77% | 1,238 | 6.19% | 19,993 |
| Kanawha | 44,430 | 50.53% | 43,010 | 48.92% | 488 | 0.55% | 1,420 | 1.61% | 87,928 |
| Lewis | 4,445 | 63.51% | 2,475 | 35.36% | 79 | 1.13% | 1,970 | 28.15% | 6,999 |
| Lincoln | 4,102 | 49.35% | 4,048 | 48.70% | 162 | 1.95% | 54 | 0.65% | 8,312 |
| Logan | 7,047 | 47.02% | 7,877 | 52.56% | 63 | 0.42% | -830 | -5.54% | 14,987 |
| Marion | 12,150 | 48.23% | 12,771 | 50.69% | 273 | 1.08% | -621 | -2.46% | 25,194 |
| Marshall | 8,516 | 56.50% | 6,435 | 42.70% | 121 | 0.80% | 2,081 | 13.80% | 15,072 |
| Mason | 6,487 | 54.10% | 5,408 | 45.10% | 95 | 0.80% | 1,079 | 9.00% | 11,990 |
| McDowell | 2,762 | 37.84% | 4,501 | 61.67% | 36 | 0.49% | -1,739 | -23.83% | 7,299 |
| Mercer | 13,057 | 58.34% | 9,178 | 41.01% | 144 | 0.64% | 3,879 | 17.33% | 22,379 |
| Mineral | 7,854 | 68.53% | 3,518 | 30.70% | 89 | 0.78% | 4,336 | 37.83% | 11,461 |
| Mingo | 4,612 | 43.28% | 5,983 | 56.15% | 60 | 0.56% | -1,371 | -12.87% | 10,655 |
| Monongalia | 17,670 | 51.51% | 16,313 | 47.55% | 323 | 0.95% | 1,357 | 3.96% | 34,306 |
| Monroe | 3,590 | 60.33% | 2,311 | 38.83% | 50 | 0.84% | 1,279 | 21.50% | 5,951 |
| Morgan | 4,511 | 65.88% | 2,272 | 33.18% | 64 | 0.93% | 2,239 | 32.70% | 6,847 |
| Nicholas | 5,485 | 52.99% | 4,788 | 46.26% | 78 | 0.75% | 697 | 6.73% | 10,351 |
| Ohio | 11,694 | 57.35% | 8,543 | 41.89% | 155 | 0.76% | 3,151 | 15.46% | 20,392 |
| Pendleton | 2,146 | 60.55% | 1,381 | 38.97% | 17 | 0.48% | 765 | 21.58% | 3,544 |
| Pleasants | 2,061 | 60.00% | 1,349 | 39.27% | 25 | 0.73% | 712 | 20.73% | 3,435 |
| Pocahontas | 2,295 | 58.58% | 1,573 | 40.15% | 50 | 1.27% | 722 | 18.43% | 3,918 |
| Preston | 7,855 | 65.85% | 3,963 | 33.22% | 111 | 0.93% | 3,892 | 32.63% | 11,929 |
| Putnam | 15,716 | 62.49% | 9,301 | 36.98% | 134 | 0.53% | 6,415 | 25.51% | 25,151 |
| Raleigh | 18,519 | 60.67% | 11,815 | 38.71% | 191 | 0.62% | 6,704 | 21.96% | 30,525 |
| Randolph | 6,512 | 56.68% | 4,892 | 42.58% | 86 | 0.75% | 1,620 | 14.10% | 11,490 |
| Ritchie | 3,086 | 73.55% | 1,070 | 25.50% | 40 | 0.95% | 2,016 | 48.05% | 4,196 |
| Roane | 3,440 | 56.39% | 2,612 | 42.82% | 48 | 0.79% | 828 | 13.57% | 6,100 |
| Summers | 2,978 | 53.91% | 2,504 | 45.33% | 42 | 0.76% | 474 | 8.58% | 5,524 |
| Taylor | 3,893 | 59.43% | 2,617 | 39.95% | 41 | 0.62% | 1,276 | 19.48% | 6,551 |
| Tucker | 2,179 | 60.53% | 1,400 | 38.89% | 21 | 0.58% | 779 | 21.64% | 3,600 |
| Tyler | 2,798 | 65.91% | 1,401 | 33.00% | 46 | 1.09% | 1,397 | 32.91% | 4,245 |
| Upshur | 6,191 | 66.62% | 3,034 | 32.65% | 68 | 0.73% | 3,157 | 33.97% | 9,293 |
| Wayne | 10,070 | 54.11% | 8,411 | 45.20% | 128 | 0.69% | 1,659 | 8.91% | 18,609 |
| Webster | 1,724 | 46.42% | 1,965 | 52.91% | 25 | 0.67% | -241 | -6.49% | 3,714 |
| Wetzel | 3,656 | 51.95% | 3,330 | 47.31% | 52 | 0.74% | 326 | 4.64% | 7,038 |
| Wirt | 1,727 | 65.07% | 896 | 33.76% | 31 | 1.17% | 831 | 31.31% | 2,654 |
| Wood | 24,948 | 63.60% | 14,025 | 35.75% | 254 | 0.65% | 10,923 | 27.85% | 39,227 |
| Wyoming | 4,985 | 57.18% | 3,694 | 42.37% | 39 | 0.45% | 1,291 | 14.81% | 8,718 |
| Totals | 423,778 | 56.06% | 326,541 | 43.20% | 5,568 | 0.74% | 97,237 | 12.86% | 755,887 |
| Democratic Hold | Republican Hold Gain from Democratic |
Bush won all three congressional districts, including two held by Democrats.[9]
| District | Bush | Kerry | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 58% | 42% | Alan Mollohan |
| 2nd | 57% | 42% | Shelley Moore Capito |
| 3rd | 53% | 46% | Nick Rahall |
Technically the voters of WV cast their ballots for electors: representatives to theElectoral College. WV is allocated 5 electors because it has 3congressional districts and 2senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 5 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 5 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 the state. All 5 were pledged for Bush/Cheney:
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)State and district results of the2004 United States presidential election | ||
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