The 2004 United States Senate elections were held on November 2, 2004, with all Class 3 Senate seats being contested. They coincided with the

re-election The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and the United States House election, as well as many state and local elections. Senators who were elected in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, known as Senate Class 3, were seeking re-election or retiring in 2004. Republicans won six seats but lost two themselves, giving them a net gain of four seats. Five of the six gains came from Southern states. Conservative Democrat

Zell Miller Zell Bryan Miller (February 24, 1932 – March 23, 2018) was an American author and politician from the state of Georgia. A Democrat, Miller served as lieutenant governor from 1975 to 1991, 79th Governor of Georgia from 1991 to 1999, and as U. ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, who campaigned for President

Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

, chose not to run for re-election and Republican

Johnny Isakson John Hardy Isakson (December 28, 1944 – December 19, 2021) was an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2005 to 2019 as a member of the Republican Party. He represented in the United State ...

won his seat; Democrat

Fritz Hollings Ernest Frederick "Fritz" Hollings (January 1, 1922April 6, 2019) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from South Carolina from 1966 to 2005. A conservative Democrat, he was also the 106th governor of South Carolina, ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

chose not to run for re-election and was succeeded by Republican

Jim DeMint James Warren DeMint (born September 2, 1951) is an American political advocate, businessman, author, and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from South Carolina and as president of the Heritage Foundation. DeMint is a member ...

; Democratic vice presidential nominee

John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a U.S. senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 alongside John Kerry, losing to incumbents George ...

chose not to run for re-election and Republican

Richard Burr Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is an American businessman and politician who is the senior United States senator from North Carolina, serving since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, Burr was previously a member of the United ...

won his

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

seat; Democrat Bob Graham of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

chose not to run for re-election, and his seat went to Republican

Mel Martinez Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...

; and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Democrat

John Breaux John Berlinger Breaux (; born March 1, 1944) is an American lobbyist, attorney, and retired politician who was a member of the United States Senate from Louisiana from 1987 until 2005. He was also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives fr ...

chose not to run for re-election and Republican

David Vitter David Bruce Vitter (born May 3, 1961) is an American lobbyist, lawyer, and politician who served as United States Senator for Louisiana from 2005 to 2017. A Republican, Vitter served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1992 to 1999. ...

won his seat. In

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

, Republican

John Thune John Randolph Thune ( ; born January 7, 1961) is an American politician and businessman serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from South Dakota, a seat he has held since 2005, and as the Party leaders ...

defeated the incumbent Senate minority leader

Tom Daschle Thomas Andrew Daschle ( ; born December 9, 1947) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as a United States senator from South Dakota from 1987 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he became U.S. Senate Minority Leader in 1995 an ...

, marking the first time since 1952 that a sitting party leader lost re-election. Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

chose not to run for re-election and Democrat

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

won in a landslide, becoming the Senate's only black member and only the third popularly elected since

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

. Also, Republican Senator

Ben Nighthorse Campbell Ben Nighthorse Campbell (born April 13, 1933) is an American Cheyenne politician who represented Colorado's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1993, and as a United States Senator from Colorado f ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

chose not to run for re-election and Democrat

Ken Salazar Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who is the United States ambassador to Mexico. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President Ba ...

won the open seat. This was the third consecutive election for Senate Class 3 where the Democrats either broke even or lost seats. This also marked the first time since 1980 in which a presidential candidate from either party won with coattails in the Senate. , these are the last elections held during a Presidential election year in which the Republicans made a net gain of seats. Furthermore, this was the most recent election in which a Senate party leader lost reelection. Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, was first elected to the Senate from Illinois in this election.

Results summary

Summary of the

United States Senate elections, 2004 The 2004 United States Senate elections were held on November 2, 2004, with all Class 3 Senate seats being contested. They coincided with the re-election of George W. Bush as president and the United States House election, as well as many stat ...

results {, class=wikitable style=text-align:center , - ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 , Parties , style="background-color:" , , style="background-color:" , , style="background-color:" , , style="background-color:" , , style="background-color:" , ! rowspan=2 , Total , - ! Democratic !

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

! Others , - ! colspan=2 , Before these elections ! 48 ! , 51 ! 1 ! — ! — ! 100 , - ! colspan=2 , End of this Congress (two months later) ! 48 ! , 51 ! 1 , — , — ! 100 , - ! colspan=2 , Not Up , 29 , , 36 ! 1 , — , — ! 66 , - ! colspan=2 , Up , , 19 , 15 , — , — , — ! 34 , - , colspan=99 , , - ! rowspan=4 style="background:#ccc" , Incumbent
retired ! Total before , , 5 , 3 , — , — , — ! 8 , - ! Held by same party , — , , 1 , — , — , — ! 1 , - ! Replaced by other party , colspan="2" , 2 Republicans replaced by 2 Democrats
5 Democrats replaced by 5 Republicans , — , — , — ! 7 , - ! Result after , 2 , , 6 , — , — , — ! 8 , - ! rowspan=6 style="background:#cccccc" , Incumbent
ran ! Total before , , 14 , 12 , — , — , — ! 26 , - ! Won re-election , , 13 , 12 , — , — , — ! 25 , - ! Lost re-election , colspan=2 , 1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican , — , — , — ! 1 , - ! Lost renomination, held by same party , — , — , — , — , — ! 0 , - ! Lost renomination, and party lost , — , — , — , — , — ! 0 , - ! Result after , 13 , 13 , — , — , — ! 26 , - ! colspan=2 , Net gain/loss , 4 , , 4 , — , — , — ! 4 , - ! colspan=2 , Total elected , 15 , , 19 , — , — , — ! 34 , - , colspan=99 , , - ! colspan=2 , Result ! 44 ! , 55 ! 1 ! — ! — ! 100 , - , colspan=99 , , - ! rowspan=2 style="background:#cccccc" , Popular
vote ! Votes ! , 44,754,618 , 39,920,562 , 186,231 , 754,861 , 2,481,075 ! 88,097,347 , - ! Share ! , 50.80% , 45.31% , 0.21% , 0.86% , 2.82% ! 100% , - ''Sources:''
Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Elections

Change in composition

Before the elections

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After the elections

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Gains and losses

Retirements

Three Republican and five Democrats retired instead of seeking re-election. {, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" , - ! scope="col" , State ! scope="col" , Senator ! scope="col" , Replaced by , - !

, , , , , - !

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, , , , , - !

, , , ,

Defeats

One Democrat sought re-election but lost in the general election. {, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" , - ! scope="col" , State ! scope="col" , Senator ! scope="col" , Replaced by , - !

, , , ,

Political parties

The Senate, as of the pre-election 108th Congress, was composed of 51

s, 48

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

s, and 1 independent. (The independent,

Jim Jeffords James Merrill Jeffords (May 11, 1934 – August 18, 2014) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. senator from Vermont. Sworn into the Senate in 1989, he served as a Republican until 2001, when he left the party to become ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, was allied with the Democratic caucus and had 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 (one seat if Kerry won the presidency). In the election, incumbent senators won reelection in all races but one ( Democratic leader

, in

, lost to Republican

). The seats of retiring senators were taken by the opposing party in

, and

. In fact, the only retiring senator whose seat was taken by a member of his party was Republican

Don Nickles Donald Lee Nickles (born December 6, 1948) is an American politician and lobbyist who was a Republican United States Senator from Oklahoma from 1981 to 2005. He was considered both a fiscal and social conservative. After retiring from the Senat ...

, who was succeeded by

Tom Coburn Thomas Allen Coburn (March 14, 1948 – March 28, 2020) was an American politician and physician who served as a United States senator for Oklahoma from 2005, until his resignation in 2015. A Republican, he previously served as a United St ...

. Republicans gained four seats in the 2004 elections, and entered the

109th Congress The 109th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, from January 3, 2005 to January 3, 2007, dur ...

with a 55–44–1 lead. While such a majority is formidable, it is still less than the 60 seats needed to override a

filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...

and completely control the body's agenda and procedures. One Republican seat, that of retiring Senator Peter Fitzgerald in Illinois, was easily taken by Democrat

, who would be elected

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

four years later. In Colorado, retiring Senator

's seat was narrowly taken by Democrat

. In Alaska, Republican

Lisa Murkowski Lisa Ann Murkowski ( ; born May 22, 1957) is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States senator for Alaska, having held that seat since 2002. Murkowski is the second-most senior Republican woman in the Senate, after S ...

won reelection in a tight race. In Oklahoma,

kept

' seat in Republican hands, while in Kentucky, Republican

Jim Bunning James Paul David Bunning (October 23, 1931 – May 26, 2017) was an American professional baseball pitcher and politician who represented Kentucky in both chambers of the United States Congress. He was the sole Major League Baseball athlete to ha ...

won a second term by a very narrow margin. The Democrats' prospects were weakened by the fact that five of their incumbent senators in Southern states were retiring. Those were Georgia Sen.

's seat, contested by

Denise Majette Denise Lorraine Majette (born May 18, 1955) is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A Democrat, she represented Georgia's 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2003 to 2005. Biography Born in ...

, was lost in a landslide, as was that of South Carolina Sen.

Ernest Hollings Ernest Frederick "Fritz" Hollings (January 1, 1922April 6, 2019) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from South Carolina from 1966 to 2005. A conservative Democrat, he was also the 106th governor of South Carolina, ...

. In North Carolina, Democrat

Erskine Bowles Erskine Boyce Bowles (born August 8, 1945) is an American businessman and political figure from North Carolina. He served from 2005 to 2010 as the president of the University of North Carolina system. In 1997–98 he served as White House Chi ...

lost

's seat to Republican

. Especially close races in Florida, Louisiana, and South Dakota all resulted in turnovers to the Republicans. South Dakota was the only non-Southern state gained from Democrat to Republican. The

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, and

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

parties contested many of the seats. No candidate from any of these parties received sufficient support to achieve election, but some may have affected the outcome of the Alaska and Florida races by drawing votes away from the major party candidates. Of the 34 senate seats up for grabs, the Libertarians ran candidates in 20 of the races, the Constitutionalists ran 10 candidates, and the Greens ran 7 candidates. Minor parties in a number of states contested one or more Senate seats. Examples include the America First Party, the Labor Party, the

Peace and Freedom Party The Peace and Freedom Party (PFP) is a left-wing political party with affiliates and former members in more than a dozen American states, including California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana and Utah, but none now have ballot status besides C ...

, and the Socialist Workers Party. None of these parties gained a seat in this election nor received a significant number of votes.

Race summary

Special elections during the 108th Congress

There were no special elections during the 108th Congress.

Elections leading to the next Congress

In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 2005; ordered by state. All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats. {, class="wikitable sortable" , - valign=bottom ! rowspan=2 , State
! colspan=3 , Incumbent ! rowspan=2 , Results ! rowspan=2 , Candidates , - ! Senator ! Party ! Electoral history , - !

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, , , Republican , data-sort-value="1986" ,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, , , Republican , data-sort-value="2002" , 2002 , Interim appointee

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

. , nowrap , , - !

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, , , Republican , data-sort-value="1986" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1998" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1992" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

, , , Republican , data-sort-value="1992" ,

, , Incumbent retired.
New senator

.
Democratic gain. , nowrap , , - !

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1980" ,

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1986" ,

, , Incumbent retired.
New senator

.
Republican gain. , nowrap , , - !

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="2000" , 2000
2000 , , Incumbent retired.
New senator

.
Republican gain. , nowrap , , - !

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1962" , 1962

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, , , Republican , data-sort-value="1998" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

, , , Republican , data-sort-value="1998" ,

, , Incumbent retired.
New senator

.
Democratic gain. , nowrap , , - !

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1998" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, , , Republican , data-sort-value="1980" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, , ,

, data-sort-value="1996" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, , ,

, data-sort-value="1998" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1986" ,

, , Incumbent retired.
New senator

.
Republican gain. , nowrap , , - !

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1986" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, , ,

, data-sort-value="1986" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1986" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, , ,

, data-sort-value="1992" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1998" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1998" ,

, , Incumbent retired to run for

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...

.
New senator

.
Republican gain. , nowrap , , - !

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

, , , Democratic-NPL , data-sort-value="1992" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, , ,

, data-sort-value="1998" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

, , , Republican , data-sort-value="1980" ,

, , Incumbent retired.
New senator

.
Republican hold. , nowrap , , - !

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1996" , 1996

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, , , Republican , data-sort-value="1980" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1966" , 1966

, , Incumbent retired.
New senator

.
Republican gain. , nowrap , , - !

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1986" ,

, , Incumbent lost re-election.
New senator

.
Republican gain. , nowrap , , - !

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, , ,

, data-sort-value="1992" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1974" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1992" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap , , - !

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, , , Democratic , data-sort-value="1992" ,

, Incumbent re-elected. , nowrap ,

Closest races

In seven races the margin of victory was under 10%. {, class="wikitable sortable" ! District ! Winner ! Margin , - ,

, data-sort-value=-1 , Republican (flip) , 1.1% , - ,

, data-sort-value=-1 , Republican (flip) , 1.2% , - ,

, data-sort-value=-0.5 , Republican , 1.4% , - ,

, data-sort-value=-0.5 , Republican , 3.0% , - ,

, data-sort-value=1.0 , Democratic (flip) , 3.9% , - ,

, data-sort-value=-1.0 , Republican (flip) , 4.6% , - ,

, data-sort-value=-1.0 , Republican (flip) , 9.6%

Alabama

Incumbent Republican

Richard Shelby Richard Craig Shelby (born May 6, 1934) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Alabama. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 as a Democrat who later switched to the Republican Party in 1994, h ...

won re-election to a fourth term over Democratic

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

Wayne Sowell Shelby, who switched parties ten years prior, had over $11 million cash on hand. Shelby was chairman of the Banking Committee. Wayne Sowell became the first black U.S. Senate nominee of a major party in Alabama.

Alaska

Incumbent Republican

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

, sought election to her first full term after being appointed to serve out the rest of her father's unexpired term when he resigned in December 2002 to become

Governor of Alaska A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

. Her main challenger was Democratic former Governor Tony Knowles, her father's predecessor as governor. Murkowski won by a slight margin. Although

is heavily Republican, popular opinion had swung against the Murkowski family because of a tax increase passed by Governor Frank Murkowski, Lisa Murkowski's father. In addition, many voters disapproved of apparent

nepotism Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...

in the appointment of Lisa Murkowski to the Senate. Knowles, who as mentioned above preceded Frank Murkowski as governor, had enlisted extensive out-of-state support for his bid to take over Lisa Murkowski's Senate seat. However, veteran Republican Senator

Ted Stevens Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. (November 18, 1923 – August 9, 2010) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009. He was the longest-serving Republican Senator in history at the time he left o ...

taped advertisements warning Alaskans that electing a Democrat could result in less federal dollars for Alaska. Lisa Murkowski had very low approval ratings as senator due to her father,

Frank Murkowski Frank Hughes Murkowski (born March 28, 1933) is an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He was a United States Senator from Alaska from 1981 until 2002 and the eighth governor of Alaska from 2002 until 2006. In his 2006 re ...

, who at the time was the

with extremely low approval ratings himself. Former Governor Tony Knowles ran against Murkowski. He ran as a Democrat who supported drilling in

ANWR The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States on traditional Gwich'in lands. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest national wildli ...

, in contrast to most Democrats. Ted Stevens tried to "rescue" her campaign and help her maintain her seat.

Arizona

Incumbent Republican

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

won re-election to a fourth term with his largest victory over Democratic teacher Stuart Starky. Since 1998, McCain challenged Texas Governor

in the Presidential primary and despite winning the New Hampshire primary, he lost the nomination. Solidifying his image as a

maverick Maverick, Maveric or Maverik may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Burea ...

, he voted against the

Bush tax cuts The phrase Bush tax cuts refers to changes to the United States tax code passed originally during the presidency of George W. Bush and extended during the presidency of Barack Obama, through: * Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act o ...

. He supported limits on

stem cell research In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

. He had a lopsided favorable ratings of 39% to 9% unfavorable in the most recent ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''/

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

poll. Stuart Starky, an eighth-grade teacher in South Phoenix, was widely known as a long-shot challenger. Starky stated that "I truly believe he's going to run for president again." Starky was called by ''

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

'' a "sacrificial lamb" put on ballot because there were no chances to beat McCain. During his campaign, he debated McCain twice, once in Tucson and once in Flagstaff. He was also featured on the cover of Teacher Magazine, dubbed the "Unsinkable Stu Starky." Starky was defeated in a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

. But, despite the relatively low percentage, he gained the highest vote per dollar amount in the country, spending only about $15,000 for his campaign (Starky's campaign may have been aided by

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

running for president).

Arkansas

Incumbent Democrat

Blanche Lincoln Blanche Lambert Lincoln (born Blanche Meyers Lambert; September 30, 1960) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Arkansas from 1999 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, she was first elected to the Senate in ...

ran for re-election. Lincoln won re-election over Republican State Senator Jim Holt while President

carried the state with almost the same margin of victory. The Democratic Party held

super-majority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

status in the

Arkansas General Assembly The General Assembly of Arkansas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house Arkansas Senate with 35 members, and the lower Arkansas House of Representatives with 100 ...

. A majority of local and statewide offices were also held by Democrats. This was rare even for the time in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

, where a majority of statewide offices were and still are held by Republicans. Arkansas had the distinction in 1992 of being the only state in the country to give the majority of its vote to a single candidate in the presidential election—native son

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

—while every other state's electoral votes were won by pluralities of the vote among the three candidates. Arkansas had since become more reliably Republican in presidential elections. The state voted for

over

in 2004. Lincoln won by 2% less than she had in 1998. Democrats at the time had an overwhelming majority of registered voters, and the

Democratic Party of Arkansas The Democratic Party of Arkansas is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Arkansas. The current party chair is Grant Tennille. History Early statehood Arkansas began its statehood with a strong Democratic dominance in politics. ...

was more conservative than the national entity. Two of Arkansas' three Democratic Representatives at the time were members of the

Blue Dog Coalition The Blue Dog Coalition (commonly known as the Blue Dogs or Blue Dog Democrats) is a caucus in the United States House of Representatives comprising centrist members from the Democratic Party. The caucus was founded as a group of conservative De ...

, which tends to be more pro-business, pro-military spending, and socially conservative than the Democratic mainstream. Lincoln was a popular incumbent. In March, she an approval rating of 55%. Lincoln calls herself an advocate for rural America, having grown up on a farm herself. Holt is from Northwest Arkansas, who also lives on a farm. Holt was widely perceived as a long shot. By the end of June, he only raised $29,000, while Lincoln had over $5 million cash on hand. Lincoln won re-election by over 11%.

California

Incumbent Democrat

Barbara Boxer Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U.S. ...

defeated Republican former Secretary of State Bill Jones. Boxer's 6.96 million votes set the record for the most votes cast for one candidate in one state in one election, until it was surpassed by Senator

Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she was ...

's 7.75 million votes in 2012. Boxer originally had decided to retire in 2004 but changed her mind to "fight for the right to dissent" against conservatives like Majority Leader

Tom DeLay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1985 until 2006. He was Republic ...

. Jones was widely considered as the underdog. Jones got a major endorsement from the popular Governor

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

. The two major candidates had a debate. Pre-election polling had Boxer leading in double digits. But he never released a single TV ad. Boxer portrayed Jones as too conservative for California, citing his votes in the California Assembly (1982 to 1994) against gun control, increased minimum wage, support for offshore drilling, and a loosening of environmental regulations. Jones raised about $700,000 more than Boxer during the third quarter, pulling in $2.5 million to Boxer's $1.8 million. But overall, Boxer has raised $16 million to Jones' $6.2 million. And Boxer has spent about $7 million on radio and television ads alone. The election was not close, with Boxer winning by an authoritative 20 point margin. Jones only performed well in rural parts of the state. Boxer on the other hand won almost all major metropolitan areas in the state. The race was called right when the polls closed at 11:00 P.M. EST, and 7:00 P.M. PTZ. Jones conceded defeat to Boxer at 11:12 P.M. EST, and 7:12 PTZ.

Colorado

Incumbent Republican

decided to retire instead of seeking a third term. The Democratic

Attorney General of Colorado The Attorney General of the State of Colorado is the chief legal officer for the U.S. state of Colorado and the head of the Colorado Department of Law, a principal department of the Colorado state government. It is an elected position with a four ...

won the open seat. Before Campbell's retirement, no prominent Democrat had entered the race, with educator Mike Miles and businessman

Rutt Bridges Rutt Bridges is an American geophysicist and politician from Colorado and a member of the Democratic Party. Business success Bridges began his career with Chevron Corporation, then founded Advance Geophysical in 1980. He achieved success with ...

pursuing the Democratic nomination. After Campbell's retirement, many expected popular Republican Governor Bill Owens to enter the race, however he declined to run. Campbell's retirement and Owens' decision not to run prompted a number of prominent Democrats to reexamine the race. On March 10, the same day Owens announced he would not run, U.S. Congressman

Mark Udall Mark Emery Udall ( ; born July 18, 1950) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Colorado from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, repres ...

entered the race. The next day, state Attorney General

entered the race, leading Udall to immediately withdraw and endorse him. Salazar lost to Mike Miles at the State nominating convention. In spite of this loss, the national Democratic Party backed Salazar with contributions from the DSCC and promotion of Salazar as the only primary candidate. The two candidates got into an ideological battle, as U.S. Representative

Bob Schaffer Robert Warren Schaffer (born July 24, 1962) is a Republican former member of the United States House of Representatives from the State of Colorado in the 105th Congress and the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2003). Sc ...

attacked

Pete Coors Peter Hanson Coors (born September 20, 1946) is an American businessman and politician. He formerly served as the chairman of the Molson Coors Brewing Company and chairman of MillerCoors. Coors was the Republican party nominee in the 2004 United S ...

, former CEO and chairman of

Coors Brewing Company The Coors Brewing Company started as an American brewery and beer company in Golden, Colorado. In 2005, Adolph Coors Company, the holding company that owned Coors Brewing, merged with Molson, Inc. to become Molson Coors. The first Coors brew ...

, because his company had provided benefits to the partners of its

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

and

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

employees, in addition to promoting its beer in

gay bar A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities. Gay bars once served as ...

s. Coors defended himself by saying that he was opposed to

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

, and supported a

constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, t ...

to ban it, although he noted that he supported civil unions for gay couples. According to the ''Rocky Mountain News'', Coors described his company's pro-

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

practices as "good business, separate from politics." Coors defeated Schaffer with 61% of the vote in the primary, with many analysts citing his high name recognition in the state as a primary factor. Pete Coors ran as a moderate conservative. However, Salazar was also a moderate and a highly popular State Attorney General. Coors is also a great-grandson of

Adolph Coors Adolph Herman Joseph Coors Sr. (February 4, 1847 – June 5, 1929) was a German American brewer who founded the Adolph Coors Company in Golden, Colorado, in 1873. Early years Adolph Hermann Joseph Kuhrs was born in Barmen in Rhenish Pruss ...

, founder of the brewing company. His father is

Joseph Coors Joseph Coors, Sr. (November 12, 1917 – March 15, 2003), was the grandson of brewer Adolph Coors and president of Coors Brewing Company. Birth and education Coors was born in 1917 to Alice May Kistler (1885–1970) and Adolph Coors II. His sibl ...

, president of the company and founding member of the

conservative think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental org ...

, the

Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...

. Salazar narrowly won the open seat. It was one of only two Democratic pickups in the 2004 Senate elections (Illinois was the other). According to the non-partisan

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

, Coors gave his own campaign $1,213,657 and received individual donations of $60,550 from other Coors family members. A state record of over $11 million was raised during the election.

Connecticut

Incumbent Democrat

Chris Dodd Christopher John Dodd (born May 27, 1944) is an American lobbyist, lawyer, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1981 to 2011. Dodd is the longest-serving senator in Connecticut's history. H ...

won re-election for a fifth term, beating Republican Jack Orchulli, CEO and co-founder of a

Michael Kors Michael David Kors (born Karl Anderson Jr. August 9, 1959) is an American fashion designer. He is the chief creative officer of his brand, Michael Kors, which sells men's and women's ready-to-wear, accessories, watches, jewelry, footwear, and f ...

's apparel company Chris Dodd was one of the most powerful senators in congress. In the election cycle, Dodd raised over $7 million. His top five contributors were

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The compa ...

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it ...

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Gol ...

, and

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

. Republican nominee, Jack Orchulli, ran as fiscal conservative and social moderate. He broke ranks with his party on

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

and

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

. That put him on the same side as most voters in the

blue state Starting with the 2000 United States presidential election, the terms "red state" and "blue state" have referred to U.S. states whose voters vote predominantly for one party — the Republican Party in red states and the Democratic Party in b ...

of Connecticut. He often talked about a "broken education system." He argued that Dodd hasn't done anything in his 30 years in congress to fix such issues as traffic problems in

Fairfield County Fairfield County is the name of three counties in the United States: * Fairfield County, Connecticut * Fairfield County, Ohio Fairfield County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,921. ...

. Orchulli launched a statewide TV ad campaign in September, as he spent over $1.1 million and pledged to spend "whatever it takes" if polls show he is gaining ground on Dodd.

Florida

Incumbent Democrat Bob Graham retired after three terms. The primary elections were held on August 31, 2004. Republican

Mel Martínez Melquíades Rafael Ruiz Martínez (born October 23, 1946) is a Cuban-American lobbyist and former politician who served as a United States Senator from Florida from 2005 to 2009 and as general chairman of the Republican Party from November 200 ...

won the open seat, beating Democrat

Betty Castor Elizabeth Castor (née Bowe; born May 11, 1941) is an American educator and former politician. Castor was elected to the Florida Senate and as Florida Education Commissioner, and she subsequently served as the President of the University of Sou ...

, former president of the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

, former Education Commissioner of Florida, and former state senator. Martínez, a former

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development The United States secretary of housing and urban development (or HUD secretary) is the head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the president's Cabinet, and thirteenth in the presidential line of succ ...

, was supported by the Bush Administration. Until the spring of 2004, Castor's fundraising was much slower than her Democratic and Republican rivals. In the spring, the campaign hired fundraising staff from the defunct presidential campaigns of

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 200 ...

and Bob Graham, and subsequently posted much higher fundraising numbers over the summer. Online grassroots techniques devised for the Dean campaign (Castor became a

Dean Dozen The "Dean Dozen" in American politics, was the collective term for six groups of 12 candidates endorsed by Democracy for America, the political action committee led by former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean, in the 2004 ...

candidate in August) were one contributing factor: another was the support of

EMILY's List EMILY's List is an American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money ...

, which named Castor as its highest-rated candidate for the 2004 election cycle, even when her support for banning intact dilation and extraction (D&X) abortions was not in line with the EMILY's List support for woman's issues. The latter was a source of criticism during the August primary heat - a complaint was filed by a Deutsch supporter with the Federal Election Commission accusing inappropriate coordination with EMILY's List. The complaint was dismissed by the Federal Election Commission in 2005. Castor's handling of

Sami Al-Arian Sami Amin Al-Arian ( ar, سامي أمين العريان; born January 14, 1958) is a Kuwaiti-born Islamist and political activist of unverified Palestinian origin who was a computer engineering professor at University of South Florida. During ...

became another source of criticism during the campaign. In June, The American Democracy Project, a

527 group A 527 organization or 527 group is a type of U.S. tax-exempt organization organized under Section 527 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (). A 527 group is created primarily to influence the selection, nomination, election, appointment or defeat ...

founded by

Bernie Friedman Bernie Friedman is an attorney in Hollywood, Florida, and a major political figure in South Florida, often called the "sixth commissioner" of California. Formerly president of the College Democrats of America The College Democrats of America ( ...

, began attacking Castor's handling of the incident, alleging that she had sufficient evidence to fire Al-Arian in the mid-1990s. Castor responded by stating that she never had sufficient evidence to fire Al-Arian, who was a tenured professor at the time. On June 29, Senator Graham, who had previously remained outside of the Al-Arian controversy, released a statement that "Betty Castor acted appropriately as President of the University of South Florida to deal with Sami Al-Arian": later, Graham and Senator

Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Nelson previously served as a United States Senator from Flor ...

brokered an agreement between the Democratic candidates to refrain from negative campaigning against each other, although this agreement appeared to break down in the final weeks of the race, when Deutsch launched attack ads on television. Despite these controversies, Castor won the Democratic nomination on August 31. She was defeated, however, by Republican candidate

in a close race on November 2, 2004. The overwhelming support for Martínez among Latinos effectively counterbalanced Castor's relatively high popularity among swing voters throughout the state. There was some speculation that Castor would run for

Governor of Florida A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

in 2006 to replace

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush a ...

, who was ineligible for re-election due to term limits, but she announced in 2005 that she would not be a candidate.

Georgia

Incumbent Democrat

retired. Democratic U.S. Representative

became both the first African American and the first woman to be nominated for the U.S. Senate in Georgia. Republican U.S. Representative

won the open seat. The results were almost a complete reversal from the previous election in 2000. Majette's announcement that she would seek to replace Miller also caught Democrats by surprise, as she was not on anyone's call list when Democrats began seeking a candidate to replace Miller. Further skepticism among Democrats about the viability of her candidacy surfaced when she announced that "God" had told her to run for the Senate. She received important endorsements from U.S. Senators

Mary Landrieu Mary Loretta Landrieu ( ; born November 23, 1955) is an American entrepreneur and politician who served as a United States senator from Louisiana from 1997 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, Landrieu served as the Louisiana State Treasure ...

of Louisiana and

Debbie Stabenow Deborah Ann Stabenow ( ; née Greer, born April 29, 1950) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Michigan, a seat she has held since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, she became the state's first female ...

of Michigan, along with many others in Washington who campaigned and raised money for Majette. Her Senate campaign slogan was "I'll be nobody's Senator, but yours." A number of factors led to Majette's loss. These include her late start, her valuable time and money spent in the runoff, larger conservative turnout from a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages (which Majette opposed), the popularity of President

in Georgia, and her lack of experience (being a one-term congresswoman).

Hawaii

Incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator

Daniel Inouye Daniel Ken Inouye ( ; September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. Beginning in 1959, he was the first U.S. representative f ...

won re-election to an eighth term over Republican,

Campbell Cavasso Campbell "Cam" Cavasso (born October 14, 1950), is an American politician, businessman and perennial candidate. A Republican, Cavasso served three terms in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1985 to 1991, and would later run for both chamb ...

, a former state representative. Inouye won every single county with at least 70% of the vote. His best performance was in

Kauai County Kauai County ( haw, Kalana o Kauaʻi) (officially known as the County of Kauai) is a county in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It consists of the islands of Kauai, Niihau, Lehua, and Kaula. As of the 2020 Census the population was 73,298. The county ...

, where he won with an estimated 80%; also was Cavasso's weakest performance, getting just 16.5% of the vote there.

Idaho

Incumbent Republican

Mike Crapo Michael Dean Crapo ( ; born May 20, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Idaho, a seat he has held since 1999. A member of the Republican Party, Crapo previously served as the U.S. repres ...

won a second term in a landslide after no one filed for the Democratic nomination. Democrat Scott McClure conducted a

write-in campaign A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

but only received 4,136 votes, or about 1% of those cast. Crapo won every county with over 95% of the vote. His weakest performance by far was in Latah County, where he got 95.6% of the vote to McClure's 4.4%.

Illinois

Incumbent Republican Peter Fitzgerald decided to retire after one term. The Democratic and Republican

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

s were held in March, which included a total of 15 candidates who combined to spend a record total of over $60 million seeking the

open seat The Barcelona Open (currently sponsored by Banc Sabadell) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players. The event has been held in Barcelona, Spain every year from 1953 (except for its cancellation in 2020), and is played on clay ...

. State Senator and future

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

won the Democratic primary and Jack Ryan won the Republican primary. Ryan later withdrew from the race four days after the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

persuaded a California court to release child custody records. The Illinois Republican State Central Committee chose former Diplomat

Alan Keyes Alan Lee Keyes (born August 7, 1950) is an American politician, political activist, author, and perennial candidate who served as the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from 1985 to 1987. A member of the Repub ...

to replace Ryan as the Republican candidate. The election was the first for the U.S. Senate in which both major party candidates were

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

. Obama's 43% margin of victory was the largest in the state history of U.S. Senate elections. The inequality in the candidates spending for the fall elections – $14,244,768 by Obama and $2,545,325 by Keyes – is also among the largest in history in both absolute and relative terms. 20040814 Bud Billiken Obama float

Fitzgerald's predecessor, Democrat

Carol Moseley Braun Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun, also sometimes Moseley-Braun (born August 16, 1947), is a former U.S. Senator, an American diplomat, politician, and lawyer who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999. Prior to her Senate ...

, declined to run. Barack Obama, a member of the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state, State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adop ...

since 1997 and an unsuccessful 2000 Democratic primary challenger to four-term incumbent U.S. Rep.

Bobby Rush Bobby Lee Rush (born November 23, 1946) is an American politician, activist and pastor who served as the U.S. representative for for three decades. A civil rights activist during the 1960s, Rush co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Pan ...

for Rush's U.S House seat, launched a campaign committee at the beginning of July 2002 to run for the U.S. Senate, 21 months before the March 2004 primary, and two months later had David Axelrod lined up to do his campaign media. Obama formally announced his candidacy on January 21, 2003, four days after former U.S. Sen.

announced she would not seek a rematch with U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald. On April 15, 2003, with six Democrats already running and three Republicans threatening to run against him, incumbent Fitzgerald announced he would not seek a second term in 2004, and three weeks later popular Republican former Governor

Jim Edgar James Edgar (born July 22, 1946) is an American politician who was the 38th governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999. Previously he served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1976 to 1979 and as Illinois Secretary of State ...

declined to run, leading to wide open Democratic and Republican primary races with 15 candidates, including 7 millionaires (triggering the first application of the Millionaires' Amendment of the 2002 McCain–Feingold Act), in the most expensive Senate primary in U.S. history. Obama touted his legislative experience and early public opposition to the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

to distinguish himself from his Democratic primary rivals. Illinois Comptroller

Dan Hynes Daniel W. Hynes (born July 20, 1968) is an American politician, formerly serving as the Illinois Comptroller. Background Hynes was born in Chicago, the son of Thomas Hynes, a former Cook County assessor, president of the Illinois Senate and D ...

won the endorsement of the

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...

. Obama succeeded in obtaining the support of three of the state's largest and most active member unions:

AFSCME The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. It represents 1.3 million public sector employees and retirees, including health care workers, correcti ...

SEIU Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of members ...

, and the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Hynes and multimillionaire former securities trader

Blair Hull Blair Hull (born September 3, 1942) is an American businessman, investor, Democratic politician, and philanthropist. Hull founded Hull Trading Company in 1985 and served as the firm's Chairman and chief executive officer before selling it to Gol ...

each won the endorsements of two of the nine Democratic Illinois members of the US House of Representatives. Obama had the endorsements of four:

Jesse Jackson, Jr. Jesse Louis Jackson Jr. (born March 11, 1965) is an American politician. He served as the U.S. representative from from 1995 until his resignation in 2012. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the son of activist and former presidential can ...

, Danny Davis,

Lane Evans Lane Allen Evans (August 4, 1951 – November 5, 2014) was an American attorney and politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2007, representing the 17th District of Illinois. Ev ...

, and

Jan Schakowsky Janice Schakowsky ( ; née Danoff; born May 26, 1944) is an American politician who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat ...

. Obama surged into the lead after he finally began television advertising in Chicago in the final three weeks of the campaign, which was expanded to

downstate Illinois Downstate Illinois refers to the part of the U.S. state of Illinois south of the Chicago metropolitan area, which is in the northeast corner of the state and has been dominant in American history, politics, and culture. It is defined as the part ...

during the last six days of the campaign. The ads included strong endorsements by the five largest newspapers in Illinois—the ''

'', ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'', '' Daily Herald'', ''

The Rockford Register Star The ''Rockford Register Star'' is the primary Newspaper, daily newspaper of the Rockford, Illinois, Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, metropolitan area. The fifth-highest circulation List of newspapers in Illinois, newspaper in Illinois, the ...

'', and ''

Peoria Journal Star The ''Journal Star'' is the major daily newspaper for Peoria, Illinois, and surrounding area. First owned locally, then employee-owned, it became a Copley Press entity in 1996. In 2007, the paper was sold to Fairport, New York-based GateHouse M ...

''—and a testimonial by

Sheila Simon Sheila J. Simon (born March 13, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 46th Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, from 2011 to 2015. In 2014, she was the Democratic nominee for Illinois State Comptroller, losing to Republican incumbent Jud ...

that Obama was "cut from that same cloth" as her father, the late former U.S. Senator

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

, who had planned to endorse and campaign for Obama before his unexpected death in December 2003. On March 16, 2004, Obama won the Democratic primary by an unexpected landslide—receiving 53% of the vote, 29% ahead of his nearest Democratic rival, with a vote total that nearly equaled that of all eight Republican candidates combined—which overnight made him a rising star in the national Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir, '' Dreams from My Father''. The Democratic primary election, including seven candidates who combined to spend over $46 million, was the most expensive U.S. Senate primary election in history. GOP frontrunner Jack Ryan had divorced actress

Jeri Ryan Jeri Lynn Ryan (née Zimmermann; born February 22, 1968) is an American actress who played the former Borg drone Seven of Nine in '' Star Trek: Voyager'', for which she was nominated four times for a Saturn Award and won in 2001. She has reprised ...

in 1999, and the records of the divorce were sealed at their mutual request. Five years later, when Ryan's Senate campaign began, the ''

'' newspaper and

WLS-TV WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on North State S ...

, the local

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

affiliate, sought to have the records released. On March 3, 2004, several of Ryan's GOP primary opponents urged Ryan to release the records. Both Ryan and his wife agreed to make their divorce records public, but not make the child custody records public, claiming that the custody records could be harmful to their son if released. Ryan went on to win the GOP primary on March 16, 2004 defeating his nearest competitor, Jim Oberweis, by twelve percentage points. Ryan was a proponent of across-the-board

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

cuts and

tort reform Tort reform refers to changes in the civil justice system in common law countries that aim to reduce the ability of plaintiffs to bring tort litigation (particularly actions for negligence) or to reduce damages they can receive. Such changes a ...

, an effort to limit payout in

medical malpractice Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, deviates from standards in their profession, thereby causing injury or death to a patient. The negligen ...

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

s. He was also a proponent of

school choice School choice is a term for education options that allow students and families to select alternatives to public schools. The most common in the United States, by both the number of programs and by the number of participating students are scho ...

and supported

vouchers A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain money, monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include house, housing, travel, and food vouchers. The term vouc ...

for private school students. Oberweis's 2004 campaign was notable for a television commercial where he flew in a helicopter over Chicago's

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since 1 ...

, and claimed enough illegal immigrants came into America in a week (10,000 a day) to fill the stadium's 61,500 seats. Oberweis was also fined $21,000 by the Federal Election Commission for a commercial for his dairy that ran during his 2004 Senate campaign. The FEC ruled that the commercial wrongly benefited his campaign and constituted a corporate contribution, thus violating campaign law. As a result of the GOP and Democratic primaries, Democrat

was pitted against Republican Jack Ryan. Ryan trailed Obama in early polls, after the media reported that Ryan had assigned Justin Warfel, a Ryan campaign worker, to track Obama's appearances. The tactic backfired when many people, including Ryan's supporters, criticized this activity. Ryan's spokesman apologized, and promised that Warfel would give Obama more space. Obama acknowledged that it is standard practice to film an opponent in public, and Obama said he was satisfied with Ryan's decision to have Warfel back off. As the campaign progressed, the lawsuit brought by the ''

'' to open

child custody Child custody is a legal term regarding '' guardianship'' which is used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person's care. Child custody consists of ''legal custody'', which is the righ ...

files from Ryan's divorce was still continuing. Barack Obama's backers emailed reporters about the divorce controversy, but refrained from on-the-record commentary. On March 29, 2004, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Schnider ruled that several of the Ryans' divorce records should be opened to the public, and ruled that a court-appointed referee would later decide which custody files should remain sealed to protect the interests of Ryan's young child. A few days later, on April 2, 2004, Barack Obama changed his position about the Ryans' soon-to-be-released divorce records, and called on Democrats to not inject them into the campaign.Fornek, Scott.
"Obama: Back off divorce files"
''Chicago Sun-Times'' (April 3, 2004). On June 22, 2004, after receiving the report from the court appointed referee, the judge released the files that were deemed consistent with the interests of Ryan's young child. In those files,

alleged that Jack Ryan had taken her to sex clubs in several cities, intending for them to have sex in public. The decision to release the files generated much controversy because it went against both parents' direct request, and because it reversed the earlier decision to seal the papers in the best interest of the child. Jim Oberweis, Ryan's defeated GOP opponent, commented that "these are allegations made in a divorce hearing, and we all know people tend to say things that aren't necessarily true in divorce proceedings when there is money involved and custody of children involved." Although their sensational nature made the revelations fodder for tabloid and television programs specializing in such stories, the files were also newsworthy because of questions about whether Ryan had accurately described the documents to GOP party leaders. Prior to release of the documents, Ryan had told leading Republicans that five percent of the divorce file could cause problems for his campaign. But after the documents were released, GOP officials including state GOP Chair

Judy Baar Topinka Judy Baar Topinka (January 16, 1944 – December 10, 2014) was an American politician and member of the Republican Party from the U.S. State of Illinois. Originally a journalist, Topinka served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1981 ...

said they felt Ryan had misleadingly indicated the divorce records would not be embarrassing. That charge of dishonesty led to intensifying calls for Ryan's withdrawal, though Topinka, who was considering running herself, said after the June 25 withdrawal that Ryan's "decision was a personal one" and that the state GOP had not pressured Ryan to drop out. Ryan's campaign ended less than a week after the custody records were opened, and Ryan officially filed the documentation to withdraw on July 29, 2004. Obama was left without an opponent. The Illinois Republican State Central Committee chose former diplomat

to replace Ryan as the Republican candidate. Keyes, a conservative Republican from Maryland, faced an uphill battle. First, Keyes had few ties to Illinois political leaders. Second, the lack of an opponent allowed Obama to campaign throughout the more conservative downstate regions to build up name recognition. Third, Keyes was seen as a

carpetbagger In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical term used by Southerners to describe opportunistic Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War, who were perceived to be exploiting the lo ...

, only establishing legal residency in

Calumet City, Illinois Calumet City ( ) is a city in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 36,033 at the 2020 census, a decline of 2.7% from 37,042 in 2010. The ZIP code is 60409. Etymology The word ''Calumet'' is the Miꞌkmaq ...

days before running. The ''

'' in an

editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...

, stated that "Mr. Keyes may have noticed a large body of water as he flew into O'Hare. That is called

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

." In 2000, Keyes attacked

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

for running for US Senator from New York even though she had never lived there, calling her a carpetbagger. Keyes attacked Barack Obama for voting against a bill that would have outlawed a form of late-term abortion. Obama ran the most successful Senate campaign in 2004, and was so far ahead in polls that he soon began to campaign outside of Illinois in support of other Democratic candidates. He gave large sums of campaign funds to other candidates and the

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is the United States Democratic Party, Democratic Hill committee for the United States Senate. It is the only organization solely dedicated to electing Democrats to the United States Senate. ...

and sent many of his volunteers to work on other races, including that of eventual three-term Congresswoman

Melissa Bean Melissa Luburich Bean (born January 22, 1962) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2005 to 2011. Bean is a member of the Democratic Party. Early life, education, and business career Bean attended Maine East H ...

who defeated then-Congressman

Phil Crane Philip Miller Crane (November 3, 1930 – November 8, 2014) was an American politician. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 2005, representing the 8th District of Illinois in the northwestern su ...

in that year's election. Obama and Keyes differed on many issues including

school vouchers A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...

and tax cuts, both of which Keyes supported and Obama opposed. The Obama-Keyes race was one of the first to be called on

Election Day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ar ...

, November 2, 2004. At the start of Keyes's candidacy in August, Keyes had 24% support in the polls. He received 27% of the vote in the November general election to Obama's 70%. Following the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

, Keyes refused to call Obama to congratulate him. Media reports claimed that Keyes also failed to concede the race to Obama. Two days after the election, a Two days after the electionradio interviewer asked Keyes whether he had conceded the race. Keyes replied, "Of course I've conceded the race. I mean, I gave my speech to that effect." On the radio program, Keyes explained that his refusal to congratulate Obama was "not anything personal," but was meant to make a statement against "extend ngfalse congratulations to the triumph of what we have declared to be across the line." He said that Obama's position on moral issues regarding life and the family had crossed that line. "I'm supposed to make a call that represents the congratulations toward the triumph of that which I believe ultimately stands for ... a culture evil enough to destroy the very soul and heart of my country? I can't do this. And I will not make a false gesture," Keyes said.

Indiana

Incumbent Democrat

Evan Bayh Birch Evans Bayh III ( ; born December 26, 1955) is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011 and the 46th governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997. Bayh w ...

won re-election to a second term, beating Republican Marvin Scott, a professor at

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...

. In September, Bayh had $6.5 million cash on hand. Scott's strategy of trying to paint Bayh as too liberal failed to gain traction. Bayh was viewed early in 2004 as a serious vice presidential candidate for

. Bayh was on the final shortlist for a Kerry running mate, but North Carolina Senator

was chosen as Kerry's running mate. Bayh won 86 of Indiana's counties compared to 6 for Scott.

Iowa

Incumbent Republican

Chuck Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore emeritus of the United States Senate, and the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States sen ...

won a fifth term, beating former Democratic Iowa State Senator Arthur A. Small. Though this election coincided with the highly competitive presidential election in Iowa, Grassley was in little danger of losing his seat and defeated Small handily.

Kansas

Incumbent Republican

Sam Brownback Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American attorney, politician, diplomat, and member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Fr ...

won re-election to a second term over Democratic railroad engineer Lee Jones. Though Robert Conroy won the Democratic nomination, he dropped out of the race shortly after becoming the nominee, noting that he expected Jones to win and was tired of campaigning. The

Kansas Democratic Party The Kansas Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Kansas and one of two major parties in the state, alongside the Republicans. The chair of the party is Vicki Hiatt. The party currently controls the state's gove ...

selected Lee Jones as the replacement candidate. Brownback raised $2.5 million for his re-election campaign, while Jones raised only $90,000. Kansas last elected a Democratic senator in 1932. Brownback was very popular in the state.

Kentucky

Incumbent Republican

won re-election to a second term. Democratic primary front runner

Paul E. Patton Paul Edward Patton (born May 26, 1937) is an American politician who served as the 59th governor of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to run for a second ter ...

, the governor, saw his career implode in a scandal over an extramarital affair. Eventually, the Democrats settled on

Daniel Mongiardo Frank Daniel Mongiardo (born July 4, 1960) is an American physician and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Mongiardo is a Democrat and was the 54th lieutenant governor of Kentucky from 2007 until 2011. He was a member of the Kentucky ...

, a relatively unknown doctor and state senator from

Hazard, Kentucky Hazard is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city in, and the county seat of, Perry County, Kentucky, Perry County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,263 at the 2020 Census. History Local landowner Elijah Combs, Elijah Comb ...

. During his re-election bid in 2004, controversy erupted when Bunning described Mongiardo as looking "like one of Saddam Hussein's sons." Bunning apologized, then later went on to declare that Mongiardo's "thugs" had assaulted his wife. Bunning had an estimated $4 million campaign war chest, while Mongiardo had only $600,000. The Democrats began increasing financial support to Mongiardo when it became apparent that Bunning's bizarre behavior was costing him votes, purchasing more than $800,000 worth of additional television airtime on his behalf. The November 2 election was one of the closest in Kentucky history. The race turned out to be very close, with Mongiardo leading with as many as 80% of the returns coming in. However, Bunning eventually won by just over one percentage point. Some analysts felt that because of President George Bush's 20% margin of victory in the state, Bunning was able to effectively ride the President's coattails to victory.

Louisiana

Incumbent Democrat

retired. Republican U.S. Representative

won the jungle primary over Democratic U.S. Representative Chris John with 51% of the vote and avoided a runoff. Breaux endorsed Chris John prior to the

jungle primary A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party ...

. During the campaign, Vitter was accused by a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee of having had a lengthy

affair An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of i ...

with a

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

in New Orleans. Vitter responded that the allegation was "absolutely and completely untrue" and that it was "just crass Louisiana politics." The allegation later turned out to be true.Shailagh Murray
"Senator's Number on 'Madam' Phone List"
''The Washington Post'', July 10, 2007 Vitter won the Louisiana jungle primary with 51% of the vote, avoiding the need for a runoff. John received 29.2% of the vote and Kennedy (no relation to the Massachusetts Kennedys), took 14.9%. Vitter won at least a plurality in 56 of Louisiana's 64 parishes. John carried nine parishes, all but two of which (Iberville and Orleans) are part of the House district he represented. Kennedy changed parties and ran as Republican in 2008 against Louisiana's senior senator, Democrat

. Landrieu was re-elected. Kennedy succeeded Vitter when he won the 2016 election for the seat over Democrat

Foster Campbell Foster Lonnie Campbell Jr. (born January 6, 1947) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party from the U.S. state of Louisiana. Since 2003, he has been a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. He served in the Louis ...

. Vitter was the first Republican in Louisiana to be popularly elected as a U.S. Senator. The previous Republican Senator,

William Pitt Kellogg William Pitt Kellogg (December 8, 1830 – August 10, 1918) was an American lawyer and Republican Party politician who served as a United States Senator from 1868 to 1872 and from 1877 to 1883 and as the Governor of Louisiana from 1873 to 1877 du ...

, was chosen by the state legislature in 1876, in accordance with the process used before the

Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Seventeenth Amendment (Amendment XVII) to the United States Constitution established the direct election of United States senators in each state. The amendment supersedes Article I, Section 3, Clauses 1 and2 of the Constitution, under wh ...

went into effect in 1914.

Maryland

Incumbent Democrat

Barbara Mikulski Barbara Ann Mikulski ( ; born July 20, 1936) is an American politician and social worker who served as a United States senator from Maryland from 1987 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she also served in the United States House of Repr ...

won re-election to a fourth term over Republican

State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

E. J. Pipkin.

Missouri

Incumbent Republican

Kit Bond Christopher Samuel "Kit" Bond (born March 6, 1939) is an American attorney, politician and former United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, he defeated Democrat Harriett W ...

won re-election to a fourth term over

Nancy Farmer Nancy Farmer is an American author of children's and young adult books and science fiction. She has written three Newbery Honor Books and won the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature for ''The House of the Scorpion'', publish ...

State Treasurer of Missouri State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * '' State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our ...

and former Missouri State Representative

Nevada

Incumbent Democrat

Harry Reid Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2017 and was the Sena ...

, the Senate Minority Whip, won re-election to a fourth term over Republican anti-

activist Richard Ziser.

New Hampshire

Incumbent Republican

Judd Gregg Judd Alan Gregg (born February 14, 1947) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 76th governor of New Hampshire from 1989 to 1993 and was a United States senator from New Hampshire; in the Senate, Gregg served as chairman of the ...

won re-election to his third term, easily beating Democratic activist

Doris Haddock Doris "Granny D" Haddock (born Ethel Doris Rollins; January 24, 1910 – March 9, 2010) was an American political activist from New Hampshire. Haddock achieved national fame when, between the ages of 88 and 90, starting on January 1, 1999, and cul ...

New York

Incumbent Democrat

Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...

won re-election to his second term, easily beating Republican

Howard Mills Howard D. Mills III (born May 29, 1964) is an American insurance consultant and former politician from Goshen, New York. He served as New York's Superintendent of Insurance from 2005 to 2006, and previously held elective office in both the New ...

North Carolina

Incumbent Democrat

decided to retire from the Senate, ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic Party presidential nomination, and became his party's vice presidential nominee. Republican

won the open seat. Erskine Bowles won the Democratic Party's nomination unopposed. He had been the party's nominee for the state's other Senate seat in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. Both major-party candidates engaged in negative campaign tactics, with Bowles' campaign attacking Burr for special interest donations and his positions on trade legislation, and Burr's campaign attacking Bowles for his connections to the Clinton administration. Both attacks had basis in reality: Burr's campaign raised funds from numerous political action committees and at least 72 of the 100 largest

Fortune 500 companies The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along w ...

, while Bowles departed from the Clinton administration in the midst of the

Monica Lewinsky scandal Monica may refer to: People *Monica (actress) (born 1987), Indian film actress *Monica (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Monica (singer) (born 1980), American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, ...

. Burr won the election by 4%. He joined the Senate in January 2005. Bowles went on to become the president of the

UNC system The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sys ...

North Dakota

Incumbent Democrat

Byron Dorgan Byron Leslie Dorgan (born May 14, 1942) is an American author, businessman and former politician who served as a United States Representative (1981–1992) and United States Senator (1992–2011) from North Dakota. He is member of the Democratic ...

won re-election to a third term over Republican attorney Mike Liffrig

Ohio

Incumbent Republican

George Voinovich George Victor Voinovich (July 15, 1936June 12, 2016) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Ohio from 1999 to 2011, the 65th governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998 and the 54th mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989, th ...

won re-election to a second term over Democrat

Eric Fingerhut Eric David Fingerhut (born May 6, 1959) is an American politician, attorney, and academic administrator, serving as the President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). Prior to his appointment at JFNA, he served as president ...

, state senator and former U.S. Representative from

Ohio's 19th congressional district Ohio's 19th congressional district was created following the 1830 census and was eliminated after the 2000 census. Between 1863 and 1880, it was represented by future US President James A. Garfield, who became the only sitting House member ever ...

. A popular U.S. Senator, Voinovich was the heavy favorite to win the election. He had over $9 million in the bank, while his opponent barely had $1.5 million. Fingerhut's campaign was overshadowed by the possible campaign of Democrat and former mayor of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show ''Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...

, who eventually declined to run. Voinovich was considered a moderate on some issues. He supported

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...

and amnesty for illegal immigrants. Surprisingly, Voinovich's biggest advantage was getting support from the most Democratic-leaning county in the state,

Cuyahoga County, Ohio Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.-Canada maritime border. As of the 2020 U ...

. Kerry carried it with almost 67% of the vote, by far his best performance in the state in 2004. It is the home of Cleveland and it is also most populous county in the state. Voinovich was a former mayor of Cleveland. In addition, he catered to Cleveland's large Jewish population by visiting

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

six times as a first-term U.S. Senator. He also consistently voted for aid to Israel through foreign appropriations bills. He's supported resolutions reaffirming Israel's right to self-defense and condemned Palestinian terrorist attacks. In addition, Fingerhut's home base was in the Cleveland area, and therefore he had to cut in through the incumbent's home base in order to even make the election close. In a September

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

poll, the incumbent lead 64% to 34%. In an October

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

poll, Voinovich was winning 60% to 35%. He led across almost all demographic groups Only among Democrats, non-whites, liberals, and those who pick health care as #1 issue favor Fingerhut. It should be noted that the election coincided with the presidential election, where

was a

swing state In American politics, the term swing state (also known as battleground state or purple state) refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often referring to pre ...

. 27% of Voinovich's supporters preferred U.S. Senator

for president.

Oklahoma

Incumbent Republican

decided to retire instead of seeking a fifth term. Republican nominee

won the open seat, beating

Brad Carson Brad Rogers Carson (born March 11, 1967) is an American lawyer and politician from the state of Oklahoma who served as the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness from 2015 to 2016. In that role, he initiated a number of not ...

, a Democratic

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Kirk Humphreys Kirk Humphreys (born September 13, 1950) is an American politician who served as Mayor of Oklahoma City from April 9, 1998, to November 3, 2004. He was considered a favorite candidate of the Republican party establishment for U.S. Senator in 2004, ...

, the former mayor of

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, ran for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

with institutional conservative support, namely from Senators

and

Jim Inhofe James Mountain Inhofe ( ; born November 17, 1934) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Oklahoma, a seat he was first elected to in 1994. A member of the Republican Party, he chaired the U.S. Senate Commit ...

, as well as former Congressman

J. C. Watts Julius Caesar Watts Jr. (born November 18, 1957) is an American politician, clergyman, and athlete. Watts was a college football quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners and later played professionally in the Canadian Football League. He served in t ...

. However, Coburn received support from the

Club for Growth The Club for Growth is a 501(c)(4) conservative organization active in the United States, with an agenda focused on cutting taxes and other economic policy issues. Club for Growth's largest funders are the billionaires Jeff Yass and Richard U ...

and conservative activists within Oklahoma. Humphreys noted, " oburn iskind of a cult hero in the conservative portion of our party, not just in Oklahoma. You can't get right of the guy." Much of Coburn's celebrity within the Republican Party came from his tenure in Congress, where he battled House Speaker

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...

, who he argued was moving the party to the center of the political spectrum due to their excessive federal spending. Coburn's maverick nature culminated itself in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

when he backed conservative activist

for

rather than

. Ultimately, Coburn triumphed over Humphreys, Anthony, and Hunt in the primary, winning every county in

except for tiny Harmon County. Carson and Coburn engaged each other head-on in one of the year's most brutal

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

contests. Coburn and the

National Republican Senatorial Committee The National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) is the Republican Hill committee for the United States Senate, working to elect Republicans to that body. The NRSC was founded in 1916 as the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. It was reorgan ...

attacked Carson for being too liberal for Oklahoma and for being a vote in lockstep with

, and

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

. To drive the point home, one television advertisement aired by the Coburn campaign accused Carson of being "dangerously liberal" and not supporting the

War on Terrorism The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant I ...

. Coburn was aided in this effort by the fact that the Kerry campaign did not contest the state of Oklahoma and that incumbent President

was expected to win Oklahoma comfortably. This was compounded by the fact that

Vice-President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...

campaigned for Coburn and appeared in several television advertisements for him. Carson countered by emphasizing his Stilwell roots and his moderation, specifically, bringing attention to the fact that he fought for greater governmental oversight of nursing home care for the elderly. Carson responded to the attacks against him by countering that his opponent had committed

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and pers ...

fraud years prior, in an event that reportedly left a woman sterilized without her consent. Ultimately, however, Carson was not able to overcome

's conservative nature and Senator

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in Count ...

's abysmal performance in Oklahoma, and he was defeated by Coburn by 11.5%. As of 2022, the result remains the closest the Democrats have come to winning a Senate election in Oklahoma since Republican

was first elected to the Senate by 8.7% in 1980.

Oregon

Incumbent Democrat

Ron Wyden Ronald Lee Wyden (; born May 3, 1949) is an American politician and retired educator serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Oregon, a seat he has held since 1996 United Stat ...

won re-election to a second full term over Republican rancher

Al King Alvin K. Smith (August 8, 1923 – January 21, 1999), who performed and recorded as Al King, was an American blues singer and songwriter. King was born in Monroe, Louisiana. After moving to Los Angeles he recorded for the Shirley and S ...

Pennsylvania

Incumbent Republican

Arlen Specter Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican from ...

won re-election to a fifth term. Democrats had difficulty recruiting top tier candidates against the popular Specter. Among the Democrats to decline to run for the nomination were Treasurer (and former Republican)

Barbara Hafer Barbara Hafer (born August 1, 1943) is an American politician and convicted felon from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She served as a member of the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners from 1984 to 1989, as the Auditor General of Pennsylvan ...

, Public Utilities Commissioner

John Hanger John Hanger (born 1957) is the former Pennsylvania Secretary of Planning and Policy, serving on the executive staff of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. Hanger has served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, a p ...

, real estate mogul Howard Hanna, State Representative (and also former Republican) John Lawless, and State Senator (and future Congresswoman) Allyson Schwartz. Congressman Hoeffel ended up running unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Software businessman Charlie Crystle was considered a strong possible candidate, but he dropped out before the election. Pat Toomey Congress

Specter faced a primary challenge from U.S. Representative

Pat Toomey Patrick Joseph Toomey Jr. (born November 17, 1961) is an American businessman and politician serving as the junior United States senator for Pennsylvania since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served three terms as the U.S. representat ...

. Despite the state Republican Party's strong history of embracing a moderate philosophy, the influence of conservatism among rank-and-file members had been steadily growing for decades; because of his liberal social views, Specter was often considered to be a " Republican in Name Only" by the right. Although Specter had a huge fundraising advantage, Toomey was aided by $2 million of advertising from the

, a conservative political action committee that focuses on fiscal issues and targets moderate Republican incumbents. Toomey criticized Specter as a spendthrift on economic policy and as out of touch with his own party on social issues. Although Toomey had difficulty with name recognition early in the campaign, he built huge momentum over the final weeks preceding the primary, and Specter appeared to have transitioned from having a comfortable lead to being behind his challenger Specter received a huge boost from the vocal support of President

; most of the state's Republican establishment also closed ranks behind Specter. This included Pennsylvania's other U.S. Senator,

Rick Santorum Richard John Santorum ( ; born May 10, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007 and was the Senate's thir ...

, who was noted for his social conservative views. Many Republicans at the state and national level feared that if Toomey beat Specter, he wouldn't be able to defend the seat against his Democratic opponent. For Democrats, hope of winning the election centered on Toomey's defeat of Specter. However, after the challenge from the right failed, enthusiasm from the party establishment waned and Hoeffel had difficulty matching the name recognition and fundraising power of his opponent Despite contempt from conservatives, Specter enjoyed high levels of support from independent voters and, as in previous elections, a surprisingly large crossover from Democratic voters. Even in the areas in which Toomey performed best in the Republican primary (mainly the state's conservative, rural center), Specter performed well. Except for his large margin of victory in almost uniformly Democratic

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Hoeffel was crushed at the polls; his only other wins came by close margins in three metro

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

counties; although President Bush proved to be unpopular in the state, voters were not willing to abandon Specter over party affiliation. Toomey would go on to elect in the U.S. Senate in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

South Carolina

Incumbent Democrat

decided to retire.

, a Republican U.S. Representative won the open seat over Democrat

Inez Tenenbaum Inez Moore Tenenbaum (born March 8, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician who served as South Carolina Superintendent of Education and as Chair of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. In 2016 she joined a law firm. She is a m ...

, the South Carolina Superintendent of Education. The Senate election two years earlier in 2002 did not have a primary election because the

South Carolina Republicans South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

were more preoccupied with the gubernatorial contest, despite having the first open senate seat in 40 years. The retirement of Democratic Senator

gave the Republicans an opportunity to pick up the seat and with no other interesting positions up for election in 2004, a crowded field developed in the Republican primary. Furthermore, the Republicans were motivated by having President

at the top of the ticket enabling them to ride his coattails to victory. Former Governor of South Carolina, Governor David Beasley, from the Pee Dee, entered the race and quickly emerged as the frontrunner because of his support from the evangelical voters. However, during his term as governor from 1994 to 1998 he had greatly angered the electorate by proposing to remove the Flags of the Confederate States of America, Confederate Naval Jack from the dome of the statehouse and by being against the adoption of a South Carolina Education Lottery, state lottery to provide for college scholarships. Both positions led to the loss of his 1998 South Carolina gubernatorial election, re-election in 1998 and the issues continued to trouble him in the Senate race. The battle for second place in the primary was between The Upstate, Upstate congressman,

, and Charleston, South Carolina, Charleston developer Thomas Ravenel. DeMint was able to squeak out a second-place finish because Charlie Condon, a former South Carolina Attorney General, Attorney General of South Carolina, split the South Carolina Low Country, Lowcountry vote with Ravenel thus providing DeMint the margin he needed. In addition, while many voters were attracted to the Ravenel campaign and felt that he had a future in politics, they believed that he should set his sights on a less high-profile office first before trying to become senator. Resigned to defeat, Ravenel endorsed DeMint in the runoff election. In the Two-round system, runoff election on June 22, 2004, DeMint scored a surprising victory over Beasley. Ravenel's endorsement of DeMint proved crucial as the Lowcountry counties heavily went for the Representative from the Upstate. Also, Beasley had burnt too many bridges while governor and was unable to increase his share of the vote in the runoff. {, class=wikitable , - style="background:#e9e9e9;" ! colspan="3" , Republican Primary Election , - ! Candidate ! Votes ! % , - , David Beasley , align=right , 107,847 , align=right , 36.6% , - , Jim DeMint , align=right , 77,567 , align=right , 26.3% , - , Thomas Ravenel , align=right , 73,167 , align=right , 24.8% , - , Charlie Condon , align=right , 27,694 , align=right , 9.4% , - , Mark McBride , align=right , 6,479 , align=right , 2.2% , - , Orly Benny Davis , align=right , 1,915 , align=right , 0.7% {, class=wikitable , - ! colspan="4" , Republican Primary Election Runoff , - style="background:#e9e9e9;" ! Candidate ! Votes ! % ! ±% , - ,

, align=right , 154,644 , align=right , 59.2% , align=right , +32.9% , - , David Beasley , align=right , 106,480 , align=right , 40.8% , align=right , +4.2% DeMint entered the general election campaign severely weakened from the primary fight, having spent most of his campaign funds. He stressed to the voters that he would follow conservative principles and provide an important Republican vote in the closely divided Senate. Democrats fared poorly in statewide elections in South Carolina, so Tenenbaum tried to make the race about issues rather than party identification. She attacked DeMint's support of the FairTax proposal because it would increase the sales tax by 23%. The election victory by DeMint merely cemented South Carolina's shift to the Republican column as the best candidate the Democrats could offer was soundly defeated by the typical 10 point margin. * Nwangaza ran under the Independence Party in Aiken County, South Carolina, Aiken and Calhoun County, South Carolina, Calhoun counties; her totals are combined.

South Dakota

In the 2004 Congressional elections, Daschle lost his seat to Republican challenger and former U.S. Representative

in a bitterly contested battle. Thune prevailed by a narrow 50.6–49.4% margin, of 4,508 votes. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist visited South Dakota to campaign for Thune, breaking an unwritten tradition that one party's leader in the Senate would not campaign directly for the other's defeat. Daschle's loss resulted in the first ousting of a majority or minority leader since 1952 when Arizona Senator Ernest McFarland lost his seat to Barry Goldwater. Daschle's Senate term expired on January 3, 2005. Throughout the campaign, Thune, along with Frist, President Bush, and Vice President Cheney, frequently accused Daschle of being the "chief obstructionist" of Bush's agenda and charged him with using filibusters to block confirmation of several of Bush's nominees to the federal judiciary. Thune also used moral values such as issues surrounding same-sex marriage and

to convince South Dakota voters that Daschle's positions on such topics were out-of-sync with the state's residents. The Republican candidate also drove home his strong support for the President while blasting Daschle for his vehement opposition to Bush. He attempted to sway voters by remembering that Bush won South Dakota in a landslide in 2000 and had a very high job-approval rating among South Dakotans. His opponent, the Minority Leader, repeatedly argued that he was funneling money into South Dakota for vital federal highway and water pet projects. Daschle responded to Thune's claim that he was a partisan anti-Bush obstructionist by pointing to his action just nine days after the September 11 attacks when he hugged President Bush on the Senate floor following Bush's address to Congress and the nation. He also hit back by alleging that Thune wanted to "rubber stamp what the administration is doing." Daschle's use of the video of his embrace of Bush forced the Republican National Committee to demand that the ad be pulled, claiming that it suggests that Bush endorses Daschle. Shortly following the airing of the ad, in a nationally televised debate on NBC's ''Meet the Press'', Thune accused Daschle of "emboldening the enemy" in his skepticism of the

. Daschle also noticeably relied very heavily on the power of incumbency to win a fourth term. Some also argued that Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie Herseth's election to the state's only House seat hurt Daschle, as voters may not have been comfortable sending an all-Democratic delegation to Congress for the first time in many decades. Accusations that Daschle was possibly considering no longer being an official resident of South Dakota was believed to have offended voters there. Others have analyzed that Daschle's lengthy consideration and eventual rejection of a potential run for the presidency in 2004 took a toll on South Dakotans, who felt betrayed and used by Daschle as a result. When the race began in early 2004, Daschle led by 7 points in January and February. By May, his lead minimized to just 2 points and into the summer polls showed a varying number of trends: either Daschle held a slim 1- to 2-point lead or Thune held a slim 1- to 2-point lead or the race was tied right down the middle. Throughout September, Daschle led Thune by margins of 2 to 5 percent while during the entire month of October into the November 2 election, most polls showed that Thune and Daschle were dead even, usually tied 49–49 among likely voters. Some polls showed either Thune or Daschle leading by extremely slim margins. Thune was an aide to former Senator James Abdnor, the man Daschle defeated in 1986 to gain his seat in the Senate. Daschle spent a great deal of time and energy campaigning for his fellow Democrat Tim Johnson (South Dakota), Tim Johnson in 2002, who barely defeated Thune by 524 votes. He argued that by re-electing Johnson,

would be better off because Johnson would help to keep Daschle Majority Leader. However, in the end, while Johnson won, other states voted for enough Republicans that Daschle was no longer majority leader. Furthermore, Thune's whisker-close defeat in 2002 freed him up to run against Daschle in 2004. Had Daschle not put his considerable weight to re-electing Johnson, it seems very likely that Thune would have beaten Johnson, leaving Daschle without a strong challenger for the upcoming election and making his re-election a certainty.

Utah

Incumbent Republican Bob Bennett won re-election to a third term easily beating Democrat Paul Van Dam, former Attorney General of Utah and former Salt Lake County District Attorney

Vermont

Incumbent Democrat Patrick Leahy won re-election to a sixth term.

Washington

Incumbent Democrat Patty Murray won re-election. She became only the fourth Washington senator to win 3 consecutive terms, just after fellow Democrats Warren G. Magnuson and Henry M. Jackson, Scoop Jackson. Term limits became an issue in the campaign, as Democrats seized on Nethercutt's broken term-limits pledge that he had made when he unseated Speaker Tom Foley in 1994. Nethercutt was also hampered by his lack of name recognition in the more densely populated western part of the state, home to two-thirds of the state's population. Washington has not elected a senator from east of the Cascade Mountains, Cascades since Miles Poindexter in 1916. Other important issues included national security and the Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present, war in Iraq. Nethercutt supported the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, invasion of Iraq, while Murray opposed it. Nethercutt was a heavy underdog from the start, and his campaign never gained much traction. In November, he lost by 12 points, receiving 43 percent of the vote to Murray's 55 percent.

Wisconsin

Incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold won re-election to a third term. Republican Tim Michels, businessman and army veteran insisted he has more real world experience than Feingold, someone he called an "extreme liberal" who's out of touch with Wisconsin voters. Feingold attacked back by saying that any Republican would be a rubber stamp for President Bush. The incumbent had $2.2 million in the bank, while Michels had already spent $1 million in the primary and had only about $150,000 left. When the National Republican Senatorial Committee, NRSC was finally convinced in October that Michels had a shot, they pledged $600,000 for him. On October 1, a poll showed Feingold leading 52% to 39%. In mid October, another poll showed Feingold winning 48% to 43%. A poll at the end of the month showed him leading 51% to 36%.

Notes

References

List of the most expensive senatorial races
via Opensecrets.org
Election results
via CNN

from the U.S. Library of Congress * * * *
Elections Division
from the ''Louisiana Secretary of State''

* JoinCalifornia [http://www.joincalifornia.com/election/2004-11-02 2004 General Election]
SmartVoter.org page on the California Senate race.
* Final results from the Secretary of State of California
Wayback Machine
{{United States Senate elections 2004 United States Senate elections,