2004 United States Senate elections

Elections to the United States Senate were held on November 2, 2004, with 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested. Since Senators are elected for six-year terms, those elected will serve from January 3, 2005 until January 3, 2011. Those Senators who were elected in 1998 sought re-election (or retired) in 2004.

On the same date were held:

as well as many state and local elections.

Major parties

The Senate, as of the pre-election 108th Congress, was composed of 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and 1 independent. (The independent, James Jeffords of Vermont, is allied with the Democratic caucus and has voted with Democrats to give them the majority in the past.) The Democrats, therefore, needed to make a net gain of at least two seats from retiring or incumbent Republicans to gain control of the Senate. In the election, incumbent senators won reelection in all races but one (Democratic leader Tom Daschle, in South Dakota, lost to Republican John Thune). The seats of retiring senators were taken by the opposing party in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In fact, the only retiring senator whose seat was taken by a member of his party was Don Nickles, who was succeeded by Tom Coburn in Oklahoma. In all, however, Republicans gained four seats in the 2004 elections, and will enter the 109th Congress with a 55-44-1 lead. While such a lead is formidable, it is still less than the 60 seats needed to override a filibuster and completely control the body's agenda and procedures.

108th Congress Senate Composition

109th Congress Senate Composition

Color Key:

Republicans

Democrats

Independents

Third and minor parties

The Libertarian, Constitution, and Green parties contested many of the seats. No candidate from any of these parties received significant support, but some may have affected the outcome of races by drawing votes away from the major parties.

Minor parties in a number of states will contest one or more Senate seats. Examples include the American First Party, the Labor Party, the Peace and Freedom Party, and the Socialist Workers Party. None of these parties gained a seat in this election.

Close races

Close Republican seats

One Republican seat, that of retiring Sen. Peter Fitzgerald in Illinois, was easily taken by Democrat Barack Obama. In Colorado, retiring Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell's seat was narrowly taken by Democrat Ken Salazar. In Alaska, Republican Lisa Murkowski won reelection in a tight race. Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter won a fifth term despite strong Democratic turnout. In Oklahoma, Tom Coburn kept Don Nickles's seat in Republican hands, while in Kentucky, the ailing Republican Jim Bunning won a second term by a very narrow margin.

Alaska: Tony Knowles lost by nearly 5%, but had been in a statistical dead heat with incumbent Lisa Murkowski in opinion polling throughout the summer. Although Alaska was a heavily Republican state, popular opinion had swung against the Murkowski family because of a tax increase passed by Lisa's father. Knowles had enlisted extensive out-of-state support for his bid to oust Murkowski.
Colorado: Democratic attorney general Ken Salazar maintained a small lead in polls over Republican brewing executive Pete Coors though the election system, and prevailed. Salazar may have benefitted from an extended (and, by many descriptions, extraordinarily negative) Republican primary campaign between Coors and Rep. Bob Schaffer.
Illinois: Democratic candidate Barack Obama, a widely popular Kenyan-American state legislator, ran without serious opposition following the withdrawal of Republican candidate Jack Ryan. After a long search that saw Republicans considering numerous substitutes for Ryan, including former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, former governors, and state senators, perennial candidate and Maryland native Alan Keyes accepted the nomination on August 8. Obama remained a heavy favorite, and won by more than 40%.
Kentucky: While Kentucky, like Alaska and Oklahoma, was a very conservative state, one-term incumbent Jim Bunning's increasingly erratic behavior brought long-shot Democrat Dan Mongiardo into a dead heat in October, and the lead fluctuated as returns were reported on Election Night. There is widespread speculation that Bunning may retire early in his second term, allowing the Republican governor to nominate his replacement.
Oklahoma: Democratic Congressman Brad Carson had a slight lead in opinion polls over Republican Tom Coburn in the contest for retiring Sen. Don Nickles's seat. Although Oklahoma was a very conservative and Republican state, Coburn was weakened by a vicious primary campaign and a history of making provocative statements. Coburn pulled through with high turnout, eventually winning by a 12% margin.
Pennsylvania: Democratic Congressman Joe Hoeffel trailed four-term Republican Sen. Arlen Specter through the campaign season, and lost by 11% despite an early Democratic surge on Election Night.

Close Democratic seats

The Democrats' prospects were weakened by the fact that five of their six incumbent Senators in Southern states were retiring (the sixth, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, easily won reelection.). Retiring Georgia Sen. Zell Miller's seat, contested by Denise Majette, was lost in a landslide, as was that of South Carolina Sen. Ernest Hollings. In North Carolina, Democrat Erskine Bowles lost John Edwards's seat to Republican Richard Burr. Especially close races, in Florida, Louisiana, and South Dakota, all resulted in turnovers to the Republicans.

Florida: After a heated primary race on both sides following Bob Graham's retirement, the Florida race was considered to be a tossup, with Democrat Betty Castor leading Republican Mel Martinez in statewide polls by a very slight margin. High Republican turnout brought Martinez to victory.
Georgia: Zell Miller's seat was being contested as fiercely as Graham's into the primary elections on July 20. Rep. Johnny Isakson is the Republican candidate; Rep. Denise Majette defeated her closest rival, Cliff Oxford, in a runoff for the Democratic nomination on August 10. Isakson, as predicted, won the general election by a comfortable margin.
Louisiana: John Breaux's seat was widely viewed as a tossup, although Louisiana's open primary system made it difficult to gauge who has the lead in the race. Only one Republican, Rep. David Vitter, was in the running; he was challenged by three major Democratic candidates, foremost among them Rep. Chris John. Although the Democrats' combined vote totalled 47%, Vitter won the absolute majority needed to avert a runoff election.
North Carolina: Richard Burr in North Carolina, who faces Democrat Erskine Bowles for the seat John Edwards vacated for his vice-presidential bid. Early polling showed Bowles leading Burr by approximately 50% to 40%, largely due to Bowles' wider name recognition from his 2002 Senate run, but his lead evaporated in the weeks before the election, and Burr won by a 5% margin.
South Carolina: Although GOP confidence was supported by early polls showing Republican Rep. Jim DeMint to be several points ahead of Democratic nominee Inez Tenenbaum, the race tightened in late September. A factor in the tightening has been DeMint's support of a proposal to replace the income tax with a national sales tax, which Tenenbaum has heavily criticized. Nevertheless, DeMint defeated Tenenbaum, 54%-44%.
South Dakota: Tom Daschle, the current Democratic floor leader, was challenged by John Thune, who had extensive support from Republicans in Washington eager to oust Daschle, who, as the federal government's highest-ranking Democrat, was viewed as an "obstructionist" of Republican President Bush. Polls showed a very tight race, with the lead fluctuating. The state's tendency toward conservatism in federal elections, as well as the Republicans' drive, made Daschle's race for reelection more difficult than most incumbents'. When Daschle indeed lost by a very narrow margin, he became the first Senate party leader to do so in more than a half century. The South Dakota race was the most expensive senatorial campaign in the country, with Daschle and Thune together raising more than $33 million.

Senate contests in 2004

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Outcome

Alabama	Richard Shelby	Republican	Re-elected to 4th term	Richard Shelby (R) 68% Wayne Sowell (D) 32%
Alaska	Lisa Murkowski	Republican	Elected to 1st full term	Lisa Murkowski (R) 49% Tony Knowles (D) 45% Marc Millican (I) 3%
Arizona	John McCain	Republican	Re-elected to 4th term	John McCain (R) 76% Stuart Starky (D) 21%
Arkansas	Blanche Lincoln	Democrat	Re-elected to 2nd term	Blanche Lincoln (D) 56% Jim Holt (R) 44%
California	Barbara Boxer	Democrat	Re-elected to 3rd term	Barbara Boxer (D) 58% Bill Jones (R) 38% Marsha J. Feinland (PFP) 2% James P. Gray (L) 2%
Colorado	Ben Nighthorse Campbell	Republican	Retiring	Ken Salazar (D) 50% Pete Coors (R) 48%
Connecticut	Christopher Dodd	Democrat	Re-elected to 5th term	Christopher Dodd (D) 66% Jack Orchulli (R) 32%
Florida	Bob Graham	Democrat	Retiring	Mel Martinez (R) 50% Betty Castor (D) 48% Dennis Bradley (V) 2%
Georgia	Zell Miller	Democrat	Retiring	Johnny Isakson (R) 59% Denise Majette (D) 39% Allen Buckley (L) 2%
Hawaii	Daniel Inouye	Democrat	Re-elected to 8th term	Daniel Inouye (D) 76% Campbell Cavasso (R) 21% Jim Brewer 2%
Idaho	Mike Crapo	Republican	Re-elected to 2nd term	Mike Crapo (R) 99%
Illinois	Peter Fitzgerald	Republican	Retiring	Barack Obama (D) 70% Alan Keyes (R) 27% Albert Franzen 2%
Indiana	Evan Bayh	Democrat	Re-elected to 2nd term	Evan Bayh (D) 62% Marvin Scott (R) 37%
Iowa	Charles Grassley	Republican	Re-elected to 5th term	Charles Grassley (R) 70% Arthur Small (D) 28%
Kansas	Sam Brownback	Republican	Re-elected to 2nd term	Sam Brownback (R) 69% Lee Jones (D) 28% Stephen A. Rosile (L) 2%
Kentucky	Jim Bunning	Republican	Re-elected to 2nd term	Jim Bunning (R) 51% Daniel Mongiardo (D) 49%
Louisiana	John Breaux	Democrat	Retiring	David Vitter (R) 51% Chris John (D) 29% John Kennedy (D) 15% Arthur Morrell (D) 2%
Maryland	Barbara Mikulski	Democrat	Re-elected to 4th term	Barbara Mikulski (D) 65% Edward Pipkin (R) 34%
Missouri	Christopher S. Bond	Republican	Re-elected to 4th term	Chris Bond (R) 56% Nancy Farmer (D) 43%
Nevada	Harry Reid	Democrat	Re-elected to 4th term	Harry Reid (D) 61% Richard Ziser (R) 35%
New Hampshire	Judd Gregg	Republican	Re-elected to 3rd term	Judd Gregg (R) 66% Doris Haddock (D) 34%
New York	Charles Schumer	Democrat	Re-elected to 2nd term	Charles Schumer (D) 71% Howard Mills (R) 25% Marilyn O'Grady (Conservative Party) 3%
North Carolina	John Edwards	Democrat	Retiring	Richard Burr (R) 52% Erskine Bowles (D) 47%
North Dakota	Byron Dorgan	Democratic-NPL	Re-elected to 3rd term	Byron Dorgan (D) 68% Mike Liffrig (R) 32%
Ohio	George Voinovich	Republican	Re-elected to 2nd term	George Voinovich (R) 64% Eric Fingerhut (D) 36%
Oklahoma	Don Nickles	Republican	Retiring	Tom Coburn (R) 53% Brad Carson (D) 41% Sheila Bilyeu 6%
Oregon	Ron Wyden	Democrat	Re-elected to 2nd term	Ron Wyden (D) 64% Al King (R) 31% Teresa Keane (G) 2% Dan Fitzgerald (L) 2%
Pennsylvania	Arlen Specter	Republican	Re-elected to 5th term	Arlen Specter (R) 53% Joe Hoeffel (D) 42% Jim Clymer 4%
South Carolina	Ernest Hollings	Democrat	Retiring	Jim DeMint (R) 54% Inez Tenenbaum (D) 44%
South Dakota	Tom Daschle	Democrat	Defeated for 4th term	John Thune (R) 51% Tom Daschle (D) 49%
Utah	Robert Foster Bennett	Republican	Re-elected to 3rd term	Robert Bennett (R) 68% Paul Van Dam (D) 29% Gary R. Van Horn 2%
Vermont	Patrick Leahy	Democrat	Re-elected to 6th term	Patrick Leahy (D) 71% Jack McMullen (R) 25% Cris Ericson (I) 2%
Washington	Patty Murray	Democrat	Re-elected to 3rd term	Patty Murray (D) 55% George Nethercutt (R) 43%
Wisconsin	Russ Feingold	Democrat	Re-elected to 3rd term	Russ Feingold (D) 56% Tim Michels (R) 44%

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