2004 United States presidential election in Maryland

2004 United States presidential election in Maryland

← 2000 November 2, 2004 2008 →

Nominee John Kerry George W. Bush Party Democratic Republican Home state Massachusetts Texas Running mate John Edwards Dick Cheney Electoral vote 10 0 Popular vote 1,334,493 1,024,703 Percentage 55.91% 42.93%

County Results Kerry   50-60%   60-70%   80-90% Bush   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President George W. Bush Republican

Elections in Maryland
Federal government Presidential elections 1788-89 1792 1796 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 2004 2008 2016 2020 Republican 2008 2012 2016 2020 U.S. Senate elections 1788 1790 1791 1793 1793 sp 1795 1796 1796 sp 1797 sp 1800 sp 1801 sp 1802 1806 1806 sp 1808 1809 1813 sp 1816 sp 1819 1819 sp 1821 1822 sp 1825 1826 sp 1827 1831 1833 1835 sp 1836 sp 1837 1838 sp 1839 1839 sp 1841 sp 1843 1849 1850 sp 1851 1855 1861 1864 sp 1865 sp 1868 sp 1874 1878 1880 1884 1886 1890 1892 1892 sp 1896 1898 1902 1904 1908 1908 sp 1910 1913 sp 1916 1914 1920 1922 1928 1926 1932 1934 1938 1940 1944 1946 1950 1952 1956 1958 1962 1964 1968 1970 1974 1976 1980 1982 1986 1988 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 2016 2018 2022 2024 U.S. House of Representatives elections 1789 1790 1791 3rd sp 1792 1793 2nd sp 1794 2nd sp 3rd sp 1796 2nd sp 3rd sp 1798 7th sp 1801 1802 2nd sp 1803 1804 4th sp 1806 7th sp 1808 1810 4th sp 7th sp 1811 6th sp 1812 1814 1816 3rd sp 5th sp 1818 1820 1822 1823 5th sp 1824 1826 2nd sp 1829 1831 1832 6th sp 1833 1834 1st sp 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1844 1845 1847 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1861 1863 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1st sp 1894 1st sp 5th sp 1896 1898 1900 1st sp 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1913 3rd sp 1914 1st sp 1916 1918 2nd sp 1920 1922 1924 5th sp 1926 1928 1930 1932 4th sp 1934 1936 1938 1939 1st sp 5th sp 1940 1941 6th sp 1942 1944 1946 1947 3rd sp 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1971 1st sp 1972 1973 1st sp 1974 1976 1978 1980 1981 5th sp 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 7th sp 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 4th sp 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 7th sp 2022
State government General elections 2006 2010 2020 Gubernatorial elections 1861 1864 1867 1871 1875 1879 1883 1887 1891 1895 1899 1903 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1926 1930 1934 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1969 sp 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Attorney General elections 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Comptroller elections 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Senate elections 1994 2006 2010 2018 House of Delegates elections 2006 2010 2018
County government County executive elections 2006 2010 2018 County offices 2006 2010 2018
Ballot measures 2012 Question 6
Annapolis Mayoral elections 2017
Baltimore Mayoral elections 1899 1903 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003–04 2007 2011 2016 2020 Ballot measures Question P
Government
v t

The 2004 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Maryland was won by Democratic nominee John Kerry by a 12.98% margin. Prior to the election, all twelve news organizations considered this a state Kerry would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. The last Republican to carry the state in a presidential election was Bush's father George H. W. Bush in 1988. As of 2021, this is the last time a Republican presidential candidate won more than 40% of the vote in Maryland or received more than a million votes, and the last time a Democratic presidential nominee has failed to both break 60% of the vote, and won by less than a 15% margin in the Old Line State. Bush's 1,024,703 votes is the most received by a Republican presidential candidate in the state's history. Bush remains the last candidate of either party to win Kent County by a majority.

Primaries[]

• 2004 Maryland Democratic presidential primary

Campaign[]

Predictions[]

There were 12 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.^[1]

1. D.C. Political Report: Solid Democratic
2. Associated Press: Solid Kerry
3. CNN: Kerry
4. Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
5. Newsweek: Solid Kerry
6. New York Times: Solid Kerry
7. Rasmussen Reports: Kerry
8. Research 2000: Solid Kerry
9. Washington Post: Kerry
10. Washington Times: Solid Kerry
11. Zogby International: Kerry
12. Washington Dispatch: Kerry

Polling[]

Kerry won every pre-election poll. The final 3 poll average showed Kerry leading 52% to 42%.^[2]

Fundraising[]

Bush raised $4,174,964.^[3] Kerry raised $7,553,542, which was 4% of the total money raised by Kerry in 2004.^[4]

Advertising and visits[]

Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election.^[5][6]

Analysis[]

Bush did win most of the counties in Maryland, but he lost the central part of the state (Washington DC suburbs and Baltimore), where most of the population is. The middle section is very urban and includes a large number of African Americans, many of whom are affluent (specifically in the Democratic stronghold of Prince George's County). Bush dominated Western Maryland and the state's Eastern Shore, which are very rural, but he carried only two congressional districts (see below). However, Kerry's margin of victory was slightly less than in 2000, when Gore won by 16.39%.

Results[]

2004 United States presidential election in Maryland
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic Party	John Kerry	John Edwards	1,334,493	55.91%	10
	Republican Party	George W. Bush (Incumbent)	Dick Cheney (Incumbent)	1,024,703	42.93%	0
	Populist Party[7]	Ralph Nader	Peter Camejo	11,854	0.50%	0
	Libertarian Party	Michael Badnarik	Richard Campagna	6,094	0.26%	0
	Green Party	David Cobb	Patricia LaMarche	3,632	0.15%	0
	Constitution Party	Michael Peroutka	Chuck Baldwin	3,421	0.14%	0
	Write Ins			2,481	0.11%	0
Totals				2,386,678	100.00%	10
Voter turnout (Voting Age population)						59%

Results by county[]

County	John Forbes Kerry Democratic		George Walker Bush Republican		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast[8]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Allegany	10,576	35.42%	18,980	63.57%	299	1.01%	-8,404	-28.15%	29,855
Anne Arundel	103,324	43.11%	133,231	55.59%	3,112	1.30%	-29,907	-12.48%	239,667
Baltimore County	182,474	51.62%	166,051	46.98%	4,954	1.40%	16,423	4.64%	353,479
Baltimore City	175,022	81.95%	36,230	16.96%	2,311	1.09%	138,792	64.99%	213,563
Calvert	15,967	40.58%	23,017	58.49%	367	0.93%	-7,050	-17.91%	39,351
Caroline	3,810	33.55%	7,396	65.13%	150	1.32%	-3,586	-31.58%	11,356
Carroll	22,974	28.95%	55,275	69.66%	1,100	1.39%	-32,301	-40.71%	79,349
Cecil	14,680	38.97%	22,556	59.87%	438	1.16%	-7,876	-20.90%	37,674
Charles	29,354	50.40%	28,442	48.84%	445	0.76%	912	1.56%	58,241
Dorchester	5,411	40.57%	7,801	58.48%	127	0.95%	-2,390	-17.91%	13,339
Frederick	39,503	39.27%	59,934	59.58%	1,157	1.15%	-20,431	-20.31%	100,594
Garrett	3,291	26.36%	9,085	72.77%	108	0.87%	-5,794	-46.41%	12,484
Harford	39,685	35.20%	71,565	63.48%	1,478	1.32%	-31,880	-28.28%	112,728
Howard	72,257	54.00%	59,724	44.63%	1,829	1.37%	12,533	9.37%	133,810
Kent	4,278	46.07%	4,900	52.77%	107	1.16%	-622	-6.70%	9,285
Montgomery	273,936	65.97%	136,334	32.83%	4,955	1.20%	137,602	33.14%	415,225
Prince George's	260,532	81.81%	55,532	17.44%	2,410	0.75%	205,000	64.37%	318,474
Queen Anne's	7,070	32.44%	14,489	66.48%	235	1.08%	-7,419	-34.04%	21,794
Somerset	4,034	44.85%	4,884	54.30%	76	0.85%	-850	-9.45%	8,994
St. Mary's	13,776	36.33%	23,725	62.57%	415	1.10%	-9,949	-26.24%	37,916
Talbot	7,367	39.05%	11,288	59.84%	12	1.11%	-3,921	-20.79%	18,864
Washington	20,387	35.21%	36,917	63.76%	600	1.03%	-16,530	-28.55%	57,904
Wicomico	15,137	40.36%	21,998	58.66%	368	0.98%	-6,861	-18.30%	37,503
Worcester	9,648	38.24%	15,349	60.84%	232	0.92%	-5,701	-22.60%	25,229
Totals	1,334,493	55.91%	1,024,703	42.93%	27,482	1.16%	309,790	12.98%	2,386,678

By congressional district[]

Kerry won 6 of 8 congressional districts.^[9]

District	Kerry	Bush	Representative
1st	36%	62%	Wayne Gilchrest
2nd	54%	45%	Dutch Ruppersberger
3rd	54%	45%	Ben Cardin
4th	78%	21%	Albert Wynn
5th	57%	42%	Steny Hoyer
6th	34%	65%	Roscoe Bartlett
7th	73%	26%	Elijah Cummings
8th	69%	30%	Chris Van Hollen

Electors[]

Technically the voters of Maryland cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Maryland is allocated 10 electors because it has 8 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 10 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 10 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 a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District 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 10 were pledged for Kerry/Edwards:^[10]

1. Norman Conway
2. Delores Kelley
3. Lainey Lebow Sachs
4. Pam Jackson
5. Dorothy Chaney
6. John Riley
7. Wendy Fielde
8. Daphne Bloomberg
9. Tom Perez
10. Gary Gensler

See also[]

• United States presidential elections in Maryland

References[]

External links[]

• U.S. Election Atlas, Maryland results