2004 United States presidential election in South Carolina

2004 South Carolina Democratic presidential primary
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45 pledged delegates to the ; 2004 Democratic National Convention
	Election results by county. Red denotes counties won by Edwards, and Blue denotes those won by Kerry.

2004 United States presidential election in South Carolina
Bush 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80%	Kerry 50-60% 60-70% 70-80%
President before election; George W. Bush; Republican	Elected President ; George W. Bush; Republican

The 2004 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 2, 2004, as part of the 2004 United States presidential election which took place throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

South Carolina was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 17.08% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this a state Bush would win, or otherwise a red state. No Democrat had won this state since 1976. On election day, Bush won a majority of the counties and congressional districts in the state. The results were very similar to the state's results in 2000, and very similar to the results in neighboring Georgia this election, although Democratic Senator John Edwards of the bordering state of North Carolina was chosen as the vice presidential nominee. Bush won Greenville County, the largest county in the state, by a margin of 33.23%.

Democratic primary

South Carolina's was the first primary in a Southern state and the first primary in a state in which African Americans make up a sizable percentage of the electorate.

The Democratic primary was held on February 3, with 45 delegates at stake.^[1] It was held on the same day as six other primaries and caucuses.

South Carolina's 45 delegates to the 2004 Democratic National Convention were awarded proportionally based on the results of the primary. The state also sent ten superdelegates.

As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time, in a non-incumbent Democratic primary, that the winner of South Carolina did not win the nomination.

Candidates

General Wesley Clark of Arkansas
Former Governor Howard Dean of Vermont
Senator John Edwards of North Carolina
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts
Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio
Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, 2000 Democratic Party vice-presidential candidate
Reverend Al Sharpton of New York

Withdrawn

Representative Dick Gephardt of Missouri, former House Minority Leader
Former Senator and Ambassador Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois

Results

Key:

Withdrew
prior to contest

South Carolina Democratic presidential primary, 2004^[1]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	National delegates^[1]
John Edwards	131,174	44.86%	28
John Kerry	88,508	30.27%	17
Al Sharpton	28,201	9.65%	0
Wesley Clark	21,011	7.19%	0
Howard Dean	13,815	4.72%	0
Joe Lieberman	7,147	2.44%	0
Dennis Kucinich	1,319	0.45%	0
Dick Gephardt	631	0.22%	0
Carol Moseley-Braun	577	0.20%	0
Totals	292,383	100.00%	45

Campaign

Predictions

There were 12 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.^[2]


Source	Ranking
D.C. Political Report	Solid R
Cook Political Report	Solid R
Research 2000	Solid R
Zogby International	Likely R
Washington Post	Likely R
Washington Dispatch	Likely R
Washington Times	Solid R
The New York Times	Solid R
CNN	Likely R
Newsweek	Solid R
Associated Press	Solid R
Rasmussen Reports	Likely R

Polling

Bush won every pre-election poll, each with a double-digit margin (except for one) and with at least 49% of the vote. The final 3 poll average showed Bush leading 55% to 41%.^[3]

Fundraising

Bush raised $3,113,641.^[4] Kerry raised $533,966.^[5]

Advertising and visits

Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election.^[6]^[7]

Analysis

South Carolina, historically part of the Solid South, has become a Republican stronghold in the past few presidential elections. Since Barry Goldwater carried the state in 1964, the only Democratic presidential nominee to win it was Jimmy Carter of neighboring Georgia in 1976. Since then, South Carolina has been a safe bet for the Republicans. As of the 2024 presidential election^[update], this is the last election in which Charleston County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.

Results

2004 United States presidential election in South Carolina^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	George W. Bush (incumbent)	937,974	57.98%	8
	Democratic	John Kerry	661,699	40.90%	0
	Independent	Ralph Nader	5,520	0.34%	0
	Constitution	Michael Peroutka	5,317	0.33%	0
	Libertarian	Michael Badnarik	3,608	0.22%	0
	United Citizens	Walt Brown	2,124	0.13%	0
	Green	David Cobb	1,488	0.09%	0
Totals			1,617,730	100.00%	8
Voter turnout (Voting age population)					51.8%

Results by county

County^[9]	George W. Bush Republican		John Kerry Democratic		Ralph Nader Independent		Michael Peroutka Constitution		Michael Badnarik Libertarian		Walt Brown United Citizens		David Cobb Green		Margin		Total
County^[9]	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total
Abbeville	5,436	54.77%	4,389	44.22%	28	0.28%	38	0.38%	13	0.13%	15	0.15%	6	0.06%	1,047	10.55%	9,925
Aiken	39,077	65.68%	19,799	33.28%	198	0.33%	145	0.24%	153	0.26%	74	0.12%	46	0.08%	19,278	32.40%	59,492
Allendale	985	27.43%	2,565	71.43%	6	0.17%	7	0.19%	11	0.31%	13	0.36%	4	0.11%	-1,580	-44.00%	3,591
Anderson	43,355	66.99%	20,697	31.98%	224	0.35%	152	0.23%	160	0.25%	75	0.12%	59	0.09%	22,658	35.01%	64,722
Bamberg	2,138	35.42%	3,841	63.63%	5	0.08%	33	0.55%	5	0.08%	11	0.18%	3	0.05%	-1,703	-28.21%	6,036
Barnwell	4,606	53.03%	3,982	45.85%	18	0.21%	51	0.59%	12	0.14%	9	0.10%	7	0.08%	624	7.18%	8,685
Beaufort	33,331	60.34%	21,505	38.93%	217	0.39%	44	0.08%	87	0.16%	25	0.05%	26	0.05%	11,826	21.41%	55,235
Berkeley	32,104	60.65%	20,142	38.05%	151	0.29%	343	0.65%	95	0.18%	71	0.13%	31	0.06%	11,962	22.60%	52,937
Calhoun	3,448	49.83%	3,393	49.04%	25	0.36%	15	0.22%	14	0.20%	16	0.23%	8	0.12%	55	0.79%	6,919
Charleston	70,297	51.57%	63,758	46.77%	588	0.43%	957	0.70%	407	0.30%	179	0.13%	130	0.10%	6,539	4.80%	136,316
Cherokee	12,090	64.60%	6,466	34.55%	62	0.33%	29	0.15%	30	0.16%	21	0.11%	16	0.09%	5,624	30.05%	18,714
Chester	5,798	49.43%	5,790	49.36%	46	0.39%	30	0.26%	26	0.22%	32	0.27%	7	0.06%	8	0.07%	11,729
Chesterfield	7,252	51.62%	6,729	47.90%	29	0.21%	12	0.09%	14	0.10%	6	0.04%	7	0.05%	523	3.72%	14,049
Clarendon	6,061	45.92%	7,087	53.69%	21	0.16%	12	0.09%	9	0.07%	8	0.06%	2	0.02%	-1,026	-7.77%	13,200
Colleton	7,264	51.50%	6,699	47.49%	56	0.40%	34	0.24%	24	0.17%	20	0.14%	9	0.06%	565	4.01%	14,106
Darlington	13,416	52.71%	11,829	46.47%	52	0.20%	62	0.24%	47	0.18%	28	0.11%	20	0.08%	1,587	6.24%	25,454
Dillon	4,301	46.57%	4,832	52.32%	22	0.24%	40	0.43%	12	0.13%	23	0.25%	5	0.05%	-531	-5.75%	9,235
Dorchester	26,006	62.94%	14,733	35.66%	148	0.36%	283	0.68%	79	0.19%	37	0.09%	31	0.08%	11,273	27.28%	41,317
Edgefield	5,611	57.57%	4,051	41.57%	22	0.23%	34	0.35%	16	0.16%	8	0.08%	4	0.04%	1,560	16.00%	9,746
Fairfield	3,531	37.42%	5,764	61.09%	15	0.16%	77	0.82%	15	0.16%	29	0.31%	4	0.04%	-2,233	-23.67%	9,435
Florence	27,689	55.89%	21,442	43.28%	137	0.28%	65	0.13%	101	0.20%	76	0.15%	35	0.07%	6,247	12.61%	49,545
Georgetown	12,606	53.43%	10,602	44.94%	152	0.64%	36	0.15%	57	0.24%	108	0.46%	32	0.14%	2,004	8.49%	23,593
Greenville	111,481	66.03%	55,347	32.78%	655	0.39%	566	0.34%	438	0.26%	169	0.10%	177	0.10%	56,134	33.25%	168,833
Greenwood	14,264	60.85%	8,954	38.20%	77	0.33%	51	0.22%	46	0.20%	33	0.14%	17	0.07%	5,310	22.65%	23,442
Hampton	3,097	38.64%	4,832	60.28%	11	0.14%	58	0.72%	7	0.09%	9	0.11%	2	0.02%	-1,735	-21.64%	8,016
Horry	50,447	62.01%	29,547	36.32%	310	0.38%	575	0.71%	159	0.20%	102	0.13%	207	0.25%	20,900	25.69%	81,347
Jasper	2,933	42.84%	3,840	56.09%	28	0.41%	8	0.12%	19	0.28%	11	0.16%	7	0.10%	-907	-13.25%	6,846
Kershaw	14,160	61.79%	8,515	37.16%	76	0.33%	48	0.21%	61	0.27%	37	0.16%	18	0.08%	5,645	24.63%	22,915
Lancaster	12,916	62.05%	7,631	36.66%	104	0.50%	52	0.25%	64	0.31%	13	0.06%	34	0.16%	5,285	25.39%	20,814
Laurens	14,466	60.71%	9,205	38.63%	67	0.28%	44	0.18%	31	0.13%	7	0.03%	9	0.04%	5,261	22.08%	23,829
Lee	2,901	36.73%	4,960	62.80%	10	0.13%	4	0.05%	6	0.08%	10	0.13%	7	0.09%	-2,059	-26.07%	7,898
Lexington	67,132	71.85%	25,393	27.18%	295	0.32%	171	0.18%	255	0.27%	120	0.13%	66	0.07%	41,739	44.67%	93,432
Marion	5,589	41.38%	7,767	57.50%	29	0.21%	80	0.59%	11	0.08%	24	0.18%	7	0.05%	-2,178	-16.12%	13,507
Marlboro	3,423	39.99%	4,984	58.22%	30	0.35%	73	0.85%	14	0.16%	29	0.34%	7	0.08%	-1,561	-18.23%	8,560
McCormick	2,396	46.78%	2,648	51.70%	11	0.21%	6	0.12%	8	0.16%	3	0.06%	50	0.98%	-252	-4.92%	5,122
Newberry	7,654	61.68%	4,483	36.13%	78	0.63%	42	0.34%	29	0.23%	84	0.68%	39	0.31%	3,171	25.55%	12,409
Oconee	18,811	68.32%	8,395	30.49%	127	0.46%	72	0.26%	65	0.24%	42	0.15%	20	0.07%	10,416	37.83%	27,532
Orangeburg	12,695	33.80%	24,698	65.75%	65	0.17%	53	0.14%	29	0.08%	14	0.04%	10	0.03%	-12,003	-31.95%	37,564
Pickens	29,759	73.46%	10,287	25.39%	141	0.35%	113	0.28%	130	0.32%	55	0.14%	25	0.06%	19,472	48.07%	40,510
Richland	56,212	42.01%	76,283	57.01%	467	0.35%	227	0.17%	313	0.23%	174	0.13%	125	0.09%	-20,071	-15.00%	133,801
Saluda	4,537	59.87%	3,001	39.60%	24	0.32%	5	0.07%	6	0.08%	1	0.01%	4	0.05%	1,536	20.27%	7,578
Spartanburg	62,004	64.08%	33,633	34.76%	300	0.31%	368	0.38%	226	0.23%	159	0.16%	68	0.07%	28,371	29.32%	96,758
Sumter	18,074	48.84%	18,695	50.52%	74	0.20%	41	0.11%	64	0.17%	32	0.09%	23	0.06%	-621	-1.68%	37,003
Union	6,592	55.24%	5,236	43.87%	35	0.29%	27	0.23%	15	0.13%	16	0.13%	13	0.11%	1,356	11.37%	11,934
Williamsburg	4,795	34.45%	9,044	64.98%	25	0.18%	13	0.09%	19	0.14%	15	0.11%	7	0.05%	-4,249	-30.53%	13,918
York	45,234	64.45%	24,226	34.52%	259	0.37%	121	0.17%	206	0.29%	81	0.12%	54	0.08%	21,008	29.93%	70,181
Totals	937,974	57.98%	661,699	40.90%	5,520	0.34%	5,317	0.33%	3,608	0.22%	2,124	0.13%	1,488	0.09%	276,275	17.08%	1,617,730

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Chester (Largest city: Chester)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Sumter (Largest city: Sumter)

Results by congressional district

Bush won five of six congressional districts including one district won by a Democrat.

District	Bush	Kerry	Representative
1st	61%	39%	Henry E. Brown Jr.
2nd	60%	39%	Joe Wilson
3rd	66%	34%	Gresham Barrett
4th	65%	34%	Jim DeMint
4th	65%	34%	Bob Inglis
5th	57%	42%	John Spratt
6th	39%	61%	Jim Clyburn

Electors

Technically the voters of South Carolina cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. South Carolina is allocated 8 electors because it has 6 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 8 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 8 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 13, 2004, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 8 were pledged for Bush/Cheney.

Katon Dawson
Buddy Witherspoon
Wayland Moody
Thomas McLean
Brenda Bedenbaugh
Edwin Foulke
Robert Reagan
Drew McKissick

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "2004 Presidential Democratic Primary Election Results — South Carolina". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved February 21, 2009.
^ Members DC Political Report ^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "2004 Presidential Election Polls. South Carolina Polls". US Election Atlas.
^ "George W Bush — $374,659,453 raised, '04 election cycle, Republican Party, President".
^ "John F Kerry — $345,826,176 raised, '04 election cycle, Democrat Party, President".
^ "America votes 2004: SHOWDOWN STATES: OHIO". CNN. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
^ "America votes 2004: Campaign ad buys". CNN. Archived from the original on April 22, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
^ "Official General Election Results for US president (2004)" (PDF). p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 13, 2009. Retrieved July 17, 2009.
^ "SC US President Race, November 02, 2004". Our Campaigns.

[results-1] "2004 Presidential Democratic Primary Election Results — South Carolina". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved February 21, 2009.

[2] Members DC Political Report ^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[3] "2004 Presidential Election Polls. South Carolina Polls". US Election Atlas.

[4] "George W Bush — $374,659,453 raised, '04 election cycle, Republican Party, President".

[5] "John F Kerry — $345,826,176 raised, '04 election cycle, Democrat Party, President".

[6] "America votes 2004: SHOWDOWN STATES: OHIO". CNN. Retrieved May 27, 2022.

[7] "America votes 2004: Campaign ad buys". CNN. Archived from the original on April 22, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2022.

[8] "Official General Election Results for US president (2004)" (PDF). p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 13, 2009. Retrieved July 17, 2009.

[9] "SC US President Race, November 02, 2004". Our Campaigns.

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v t e Elections in South Carolina
General	1900 1902 1903 1904 1906 1907 1908 1910 1912 1913 1914 1916 1917 1918 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1926 1927 1928 1930 1932 1933 1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1942 1943 1944 1946 1949 1950 1952 1953 1954 1956 1958 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1972 1973 1974 1976 1980 1988 1992 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
State Senate	2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
State House	2018 2020 2022
Governor	1865 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1930 1934 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
U.S. President	1788-89 1792 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
U.S. Senate	Class 2: 1789 1793 1796 (special) 1798 (special) 1799 1801 (special) 1810 (special) 1810 1816 (special) 1822 1828 1832 (special) 1834 1840 1845 (special) 1846 1850 (special) 1852 1858 (special) 1868 1870 1876 1882 1888 1894 1900 1906 1912 1918 (special) 1918 1924 1930 1936 1941 (special) 1942 1948 1954 1956 (special) 1960 1966 1972 1978 1984 1990 1996 2002 2008 2014 2020 Class 3: 1789 1794/95 1800 1802 (special) 1804 (special) 1806 1812 1818 1824 1826 (special) 1830 1833 (special) 1837 1842 (special) 1848 1854 1857 (special) 1868 (special) 1872 1878 1884 1890 1897 1898 (special) 1903 1909 1914 1920 1926 1932 1938 1944 1950 1956 1962 1966 (special) 1968 1974 1980 1986 1992 1998 2004 2010 2014 (special) 2016 2022
U.S. House	1788 1790 1793 1794 5th sp 1795 2nd sp 1796 1797 1st sp 1798 1800 1802 4th sp 1803 1804 1805 8th sp 1806 1807 6th sp 1808 1810 1st sp 1810 1812 1814 1816 9th sp 1818 6th sp 1820 1821 9th sp 1822 2nd sp 4th sp 9th sp 1823 1824 1825 1st sp 1826 1828 1830 1833 1834 8th sp 1836 4th sp 8th sp 1838 1840 1843 1844 1846 1848 1st sp 1850 1853 1854 1856 1858 1860 1868 1870 1st sp 1872 1874 1876 2nd sp 1878 1880 1882 1884 7th sp 1886 1888 1890 1892 6th sp 1894 1st sp 4th sp 1896 7th sp 1897 6th sp 1898 1900 1901 7th sp 1902 1904 2nd sp 1906 1908 1910 1912 1913 1st sp 1914 1915 4th sp 1916 1917 5th sp 1918 1919 6th sp 7th sp 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 6th sp 1940 1942 1944 2nd sp 1946 1948 1950 1952 1953 4th sp 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 2nd sp 1964 1965 2nd sp 1966 1968 1970 1971 1st sp 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2001 2nd sp 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013 1st sp 2014 2016 2017 5th sp 2018 2020 2022 Special
See also: Political party strength in South Carolina