The 2004 Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary took place on February 17, 2004 as part of the 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries. The delegate allocation is Proportional. The candidates are awarded delegates in proportion to the percentage of votes received and is open to registered Democrats only. A total of 72 (of 87) delegates are awarded proportionally. A 15 percent threshold is required to receive delegates. John Kerry won the primary with John Edwards coming in second.
2004 United States presidential primary election in Wisconsin[1]
Party
Candidate
Votes
Percentage
Delegates
Democratic
John Forbes Kerry
328,358
39.6%
32
Democratic
John Reid Edwards
284,163
34.3%
26
Democratic
Howard Dean
150,845
18.2%
14
Democratic
Dennis Kucinich
27,353
3.3%
0
Democratic
Al Sharpton
14,701
1.8%
0
Democratic
Wesley Clark
12,713
1.5%
0
Democratic
Joe Lieberman
3,929
0.5%
0
Democratic
Lyndon LaRouche
1,637
0.2%
0
Democratic
Carol Moseley-Braun
1,590
0.2%
0
Democratic
Richard Gephardt
1,263
0.2%
0
Totals
100.00%
72
Voter turnout
%
—
Analysis[]
Although Kerry was gaining momentum, he won Wisconsin with just 39.6% of the vote and won with a margin of slightly over 5%. Edwards did very well in the state, winning several counties and even won Wisconsin's 5th congressional district. Edwards reached 40% in 5 counties, and Kerry did win a majority of the counties in the state. One of Kerry's keys to victory was winning the heavily populated and the county with the highest turnout, Milwaukee County, with 40% of the vote.