United States presidential election in Maryland, 2004

United States presidential election in Maryland, 2004
Maryland
November 2, 2004

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

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

President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

George W. Bush
Republican

The 2004 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 2, 2004 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Maryland was won by Democratic nominee John Kerry by a 13.0% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this a state Kerry would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. The last Republican to carry the state in a presidential election was George H.W. Bush in 1988.

Primaries

Campaign

Predictions

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

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

Polling

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

Fundraising

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

Advertising and visits

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

Analysis

Bush did win most of the counties in Maryland, but he lost the central part of the state (Washington DC suburbs and Baltimore), where most of the population is. The middle section is very urban and includes a large number of African Americans, many of whom are affluent (specifically in the Democratic stronghold of Prince George's County). Bush dominated Western Maryland and the state's Eastern Shore, which are very rural, but he carried only two congressional districts (see below). However, Kerry's margin of victory was slightly less than in 2000, when Gore won by 16%.

Results

United States presidential election in Maryland, 2004
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Party John Kerry John Edwards 1,334,493 55.9% 10
Republican Party George W. Bush (Inc.) Dick Cheney 1,024,703 42.9% 0
Populist Party[7] Ralph Nader Peter Camejo 11,854 0.5% 0
Libertarian Party Michael Badnarik Richard Campagna 6,094 0.3% 0
Green Party David Cobb Patricia LaMarche 3,632 0.2% 0
Constitution Party Michael Peroutka Chuck Baldwin 3,421 0.1% 0
Write Ins 2,481 0.1% 0
Totals - 100.00% 10
Voter turnout (Voting Age population) 59%

Results breakdown

By county

County Kerry Votes Bush Votes Others Votes
Allegany 35.4% 10,576 63.6% 18,980 1.0% 299
Anne Arundel 43.1% 103,324 55.6% 133,231 1.3% 3,112
Baltimore (City) 82.0% 175,022 17.0% 36,230 1.1% 2,311
Baltimore (County) 51.6% 182,474 47.0% 166,051 1.4% 4,954
Calvert 40.6% 15,967 58.5% 23,017 0.9% 367
Caroline 33.6% 3,810 65.1% 7,396 1.3% 150
Carroll 29.0% 22,974 69.7% 55,275 1.4% 1,100
Cecil 39.0% 14,680 59.9% 22,556 1.2% 438
Charles 50.4% 29,354 48.8% 28,442 0.8% 445
Dorchester 40.6% 5,411 58.5% 7,801 1.0% 127
Frederick 39.3% 39,503 59.6% 59,934 1.2% 1,157
Garrett 26.4% 3,291 72.8% 9,085 0.9% 108
Harford 35.2% 39,685 63.5% 71,565 1.3% 1,478
Howard 54.0% 72,257 44.6% 59,724 1.4% 1,829
Kent 46.1% 4,278 52.8% 4,900 1.2% 107
Montgomery 66.0% 273,936 32.8% 136,334 1.2% 4,955
Prince George's 81.8% 260,532 17.4% 55,532 0.8% 2,410
Queen Anne's 32.4% 7,070 66.5% 14,489 1.1% 235
St. Mary's 36.3% 13,776 62.6% 23,725 1.1% 415
Somerset 44.9% 4,034 54.3% 4,884 0.8% 76
Talbot 39.1% 7,367 59.8% 11,288 1.1% 209
Washington 35.2% 20,387 63.8% 36,917 1.0% 600
Wicomico 40.4% 15,137 58.7% 21,998 1.0% 368
Worcester 38.2% 9,648 60.8% 15,349 0.9% 232

By congressional district

Kerry won 6 of 8 congressional districts.[8]

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

Electors

Technically the voters of Maryland cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Maryland is allocated 10 electors because it has 8 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 10 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 10 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for President and Vice President. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

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

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 10 were pledged for Kerry/Edwards:[9]

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

References

See also

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