2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries
The U.S. Democratic Party presidential nomination, 2004 is the series of primaries and caucuses that decides which pair of candidates represent the Democrats in the 2004 Presidential election for President and Vice President.
Although no candidate has yet accumulated the 2,162 delegates required to cement their nomination, John Kerry is now considered the "presumptive nominee." The last of Kerry's major challengers dropped out on March 3, 2004. Minor candidates Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton have said they do not plan to drop out before the party's U.S. presidential nominating convention, the Democratic National Convention, which begins July 26, 2004.
There is very little chance of either a serious challenge to incumbent candidate George W. Bush in the Republican presidential nomination process or a third party candidate winning a significant portion of the vote in the general election; thus, the Democratic primary will probably receive the most media coverage of any 2004 Presidential primary.
Candidates
- Filed:
- Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts
- Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio
- Reverend Al Sharpton of New York
- Political activist Lyndon LaRouche of Virginia is also running as a nominal Democrat, although the Democratic party will not award LaRouche convention delegates.
- Withdrew:
- Senator Bob Graham of Florida (October 7, 2003)
- Former Senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois (January 15, 2004) endorsed Howard Dean
- Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri (January 20, 2004) endorsed John Kerry
- Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut (February 3, 2004)
- Retired General Wesley Clark of Arkansas (February 11, 2004) endorsed John Kerry
- Former Governor Dr. Howard Dean of Vermont (February 18, 2004)
- Senator John Edwards of North Carolina (March 3, 2004) endorsed John Kerry
- Declined:
- Al Gore (Former Vice President and Democratic candidate in the U.S. presidential election, 2000)
- Hillary Clinton (US Senator and former First Lady)
- Tom Daschle (Senate Minority Leader)
- Russ Feingold (US Senator)
- Joseph Biden (US Senator)
- Christopher Dodd (US Senator)
- Gray Davis (Former Governor of California)
- Bill Bradley (Former US Senator and candidate for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. presidential election, 2000)
- Gary Hart (Former US Senator and candidate for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. presidential election, 1988)
Vice Presidential candidates
- Declined:
- Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico (March 7, 2004)
See also Vice-presidential selection in 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry.
State-by-state results
There are 4,322 total delegates to the Democratic National Convention, of which 802 are so-called "superdelegates" who are not bound by any particular state's primary or caucus votes (which even include some of the (former) candidates themselves) and can change their votes at any time. A candidate needs 2,162 delegates to become the nominee. Except for the Northern Mariana Islands and Midway Atoll, all states, territories, and other inhabited areas of the United States offer delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
| Carol Moseley Braun | Wesley Clark | Howard Dean | John Edwards | Richard Gephardt | John Kerry | Dennis Kucinich | Joseph Lieberman | Al Sharpton | |||||||||||
| Total Delegates¹ | -- | 57 | 170 | 540 | -- | 1937 | 23 | -- | 25 | ||||||||||
| Superdelegates¹ | -- | -- | 55 | 28 | -- | 347 | 2 | -- | 5 | ||||||||||
| Jan. 14 | District of Columbia² (primary) |
12% | -- | 43% | -- | -- | -- | 8% | -- | 34% | |||||||||
| Jan. 19 | Iowa³ (caucus) |
-- | -- | 18% | 32% | 11% | 38% | 1% | -- | -- | |||||||||
| Jan. 27 | New Hampshire (primary) |
-- | 12%4 | 26% (9) |
12% | -- | 38%4 (13) |
1% | 9% | -- | |||||||||
| Feb. 3 (Mini Tuesday) | Arizona (primary) |
-- | 27% (14) |
14% (3) |
7% | -- | 43% (38) |
2% | 7% | -- | |||||||||
| Delaware (primary) |
-- | 9%4 | 10% | 11% | 1%4 | 50% (14) |
1% | 11% | 6% (1) | ||||||||||
| Missouri (primary) |
-- | 4% | 9% | 25% (26) |
2% | 51% (48) |
1% | 4% | 3% | ||||||||||
| New Mexico (caucus) |
-- | 21% (8) |
16% (4) |
11% | 1%4 | 42% (14) |
6% | 3% | -- | ||||||||||
| North Dakota (caucus) |
-- | 24% (5) |
12% | 10% | 1% | 51%4 (9) |
3% | 1% | -- | ||||||||||
| Oklahoma (primary) |
-- | 30% (15) |
4% | 30% (13) |
1%4 | 27% (12) |
1% | 7%4 | 1% | ||||||||||
| South Carolina (primary) |
-- | 7% | 5% | 45% (27) |
-- | 30% (17) |
-- | 2% | 10% (1) | ||||||||||
| Feb. 7 | Michigan (caucus) |
-- | 7% | 17% (24) |
13% (6) |
1%4 | 52% (91) |
3% | -- | 7% (7) | |||||||||
| Washington (caucus) |
-- | 3% | 30% (29) |
7% | -- | 48%4 (47) |
8% | -- | -- | ||||||||||
| Feb. 8 | Maine (caucus) |
-- | 4% | 27%4 (9) |
8% | -- | 45% (15) |
16% | -- | -- | |||||||||
| Feb. 10 | Tennessee (primary) |
1%4 | 23% (18) |
4% | 26% (20) |
-- | 41% (31) |
1% | 1% | 2% | |||||||||
| Virginia (primary) |
-- | 9% | 7% | 27% (29) |
-- | 52% (53) |
1% | 1% | 3% | ||||||||||
| Feb. 14 | District of Columbia² (caucus) |
-- | 1%4 | 17%4 (3) |
10% | -- | 47% (9) |
3% | -- | 20% (4) | |||||||||
| Nevada (caucus) |
-- | -- | 17% (2) |
10% | -- | 63% (18) |
7% | -- | 1% | ||||||||||
| Feb. 17 | Wisconsin (primary) |
-- | 2% | 18% (13) |
34% (24) |
-- | 40% (30) |
3% | -- | 2% | |||||||||
| Feb. 24 | Hawaii (caucus) |
-- | 1%4 | 7%4 | 13%4 | -- | 47%4 (12) |
31%4 (8) |
-- | -- | |||||||||
| Idaho³ (caucus) |
-- | -- | 11% | 22% (6) |
-- | 54% (12) |
6% | -- | -- | ||||||||||
| Utah (primary) |
-- | 1%4 | 4% | 30% (3) |
-- | 55% (5) |
7% | 1%4 | -- | ||||||||||
| Mar. 2 (Super Tuesday) | California (primary) |
1%4 | 2%4 | 4% | 20% (82) |
1%4 | 64% (288) |
5% | 2%4 | 4% | |||||||||
| Connecticut (primary) |
-- | 1%4 | 4% | 24% (14) |
-- | 58% (35) |
3% | 5% | 3% | ||||||||||
| Georgia (primary) |
-- | 1%4 | 2% | 42% (32) |
-- | 47% (37) |
1% | 1%4 | 6% | ||||||||||
| Maryland (primary) |
1%4 | 1%4 | 3% | 26% (13) |
-- | 60% (26) |
2% | 1%4 | 5% | ||||||||||
| Massachusetts (primary) |
-- | 1%4 | 3% | 18% (13) |
-- | 72% (80) |
4% | 1%4 | 1% | ||||||||||
| Minnesota (caucus) |
-- | -- | 2% | 27% (14) |
-- | 51% (26) |
17% (5) |
-- | 1% | ||||||||||
| New York (primary) |
-- | 1%4 | 3% | 20% (54) |
1%4 | 61% (174) |
5% | 1%4 | 8% (8) | ||||||||||
| Ohio (primary) |
-- | 1%4 | 3% | 34% (55) |
1%4 | 52% (81) |
9% (4) |
1%4 | -- | ||||||||||
| Rhode Island (primary) |
-- | 1%4 | 4% | 19% (4) |
-- | 71% (17) |
3% | 1%4 | -- | ||||||||||
| Vermont (primary) |
-- | 3%4 | 53%4 (9) |
6%4 | -- | 31%4 (6) |
4% | -- | -- | ||||||||||
| Mar. 9 | American Samoa (caucus) |
-- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 83% (6) |
17% | -- | -- | |||||||||
| Florida (primary) |
1% | 1% | 3% | 10% (3) |
1% | 77% (119) |
2% | 2% | 3% | ||||||||||
| Louisiana (primary) |
-- | 4% | 5% | 16% (10) |
-- | 70% (42) |
1% | -- | -- | ||||||||||
| Mississippi (primary) |
-- | 2% | 3% | 7% | -- | 78% (33) |
1% | 1% | 5% | ||||||||||
| Texas (primary) |
-- | 2% | 5% | 14% (11) |
1% | 67% (62) |
2% | 3% | 4% | ||||||||||
| Mar. 16 | Illinois (primary) |
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| Mar. 20 | Alaska (caucus) |
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| Guam (caucus) |
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| Wyoming (caucus) |
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| Mar. 27 | Expatriates5 (caucus) |
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| Apr. 17 | North Carolina (caucus) |
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| Virgin Islands (caucus) |
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| Apr. 27 | Pennsylvania (primary) |
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| May 4 | Indiana (primary) |
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| May 11 | Nebraska (primary) |
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| West Virginia (primary) |
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| May 18 | Arkansas (primary) |
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| Kentucky (primary) |
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| Oregon (primary) |
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| May 25 | Idaho (primary) |
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| Jun. 1 | Alabama (primary) |
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| South Dakota (primary) |
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| Jun. 6 | Puerto Rico (caucus) |
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| Jun. 8 | Montana (primary) |
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| New Jersey (primary) |
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Notes:
- ¹ As of February 24, 2004; total delegate count includes "superdelegates," delegates not assigned directly from primary or caucus results. State delegate counts include only those delegates assigned as as result of the state primary or caucus.
- ² January 14 is a non-binding primary (no delegates apportioned). Ten of D.C.'s pledged delegates are awarded at ward-level caucuses on February 14; the other six are awarded based on the February 14 results in a convention on March 6.
- ³ Only local delegates were selected at the Iowa and Idaho caucuses. National delegates are to be selected later.
- 4 These figures are based on correctly-rounded percentages based on complete counts directly from the state parties and from the Washington Post. These figures differ slightly from those reported in most major media outlets (including some linked at the bottom of the page), where percentages have been slightly mis-stated for some candidates in some elections (either by applying inconsistent rounding or by inconsistently excluding minor candidates or candidates who had dropped out).
- 5 Expatriate Democrats hold a caucus for Americans living around the world. The 2004 caucus is set to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland. The official organization is Democrats Abroad.
See also
External links
General references
- CNN: Election 2004
- The New Republic Online: The TNR Primary
- The Green Papers Online: 2004 Presidential Primaries At a Glance, Democratic Delegate Allocation
News articles
- No Democratic candidate gets 50 percent in online primary - Associated Press, June 27, 2003
- Debate Bares Democrats' Great Divide - Washington Post, May 5, 2003
- Democrats discuss Iraq early in debate - Associated Press, May 4, 2003