2004 United States gubernatorial elections

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 2, 2004, in 11 states and two territories. There was no net gain in seats for either party, as Democrats picked up an open seat in Montana while defeating incumbent Craig Benson in New Hampshire, while Republicans defeated incumbent Joe Kernan in Indiana and won Missouri after Bob Holden lost in the primary. These elections coincided with the presidential election.

Election predictions

State	Incumbent	Last race	Sabato November 3, 2008	Result
Delaware	Ruth Ann Minner	59.2% D	Likely D	Minner (50.9%)
Indiana	Joe Kernan	56.6% D	Likely R (flip)	Daniels (53.2%)
Missouri	Bob Holden (primaried)	49.1% D	Lean R (flip)	Blunt (50.8%)
Montana	Judy Martz (retired)	51.0% R	Lean D (flip)	Schweitzer (50.4%)
New Hampshire	Craig Benson	58.7% R	Lean R	Lynch (51.0%)
North Carolina	Mike Easley	52.0% D	Likely D	Easley (55.6%)
North Dakota	John Hoeven	55.0% R	Safe R	Hoeven (71.3%)
Utah	Olene Walker (retired)	55.7% R	Lean R	Huntsman Jr. (57.7%)
Vermont	Jim Douglas	44.9% R	Likely R	Douglas (56.3%)
Washington	Gary Locke (term-limited)	58.4% D	Lean R (flip)	Gregoire (48.9%)
West Virginia	Bob Wise (retired)	50.1% D	Safe D	Manchin (63.5%)

Race Summary

States

State	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Delaware	Ruth Ann Minner	Democratic	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	Y Ruth Ann Minner (Democratic) 50.9% William Swain Lee (Republican) 45.8% Frank Infante (Independent) 2.9%
Indiana	Joe Kernan	Democratic	2003	Incumbent lost election to full term. New governor elected. Republican gain.	Y Mitch Daniels (Republican) 53.2% Joe Kernan (Democratic) 45.5% Kenn Gividen (Libertarian) 1.3%
Missouri	Bob Holden	Democratic	2000	Incumbent lost re-nomination. New governor elected. Republican gain.	Y Matt Blunt (Republican) 50.8% Claire McCaskill (Democratic) 47.8%
Montana	Judy Martz	Republican	2000	Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Democratic gain.	Y Brian Schweitzer (Democratic) 50.4% Bob Brown (Republican) 46.0% Bob Kelleher (Green) 1.9% Stan Jones (Libertarian) 1.7%
New Hampshire	Craig Benson	Republican	2002	Incumbent lost re-election. New governor elected. Democratic gain.	Y John Lynch (Democratic) 51.0% Craig Benson (Republican) 48.9%
North Carolina	Mike Easley	Democratic	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	Y Mike Easley (Democratic) 55.6% Patrick J. Ballantine (Republican) 42.9% Barbara Howe (Libertarian) 1.5%
North Dakota	John Hoeven	Republican	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	Y John Hoeven (Republican) 71.3% Joe Satrom (Democratic) 27.4% Roland Riemers (Libertarian) 1.3%
Utah	Olene Walker	Republican	2003	Incumbent lost nomination to full term. New governor elected. Republican hold.	Y Jon Huntsman Jr. (Republican) 57.7% Scott Matheson Jr. (Democratic) 41.3%
Vermont	Jim Douglas	Republican	2002	Incumbent re-elected.	Y Jim Douglas (Republican) 58.7% Peter Clavelle (Democratic) 37.9% Cris Ericson (Marijuana) 1.4%
Washington	Gary Locke	Democratic	1996	Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y Christine Gregoire (Democratic) 48.9% Dino Rossi (Republican) 48.9% Ruth Bennett (Libertarian) 2.3%
West Virginia	Bob Wise	Democratic	2000	Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y Joe Manchin (Democratic) 63.5% Monty Warner (Republican) 34.0% Jesse Johnson (Mountain) 2.5%

Territories

Territory	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
American Samoa	Togiola Tulafono	Democratic	2003	Incumbent elected to full term.	Y Togiola Tulafono (Democratic) 55.7% Afoa L.S. Lutu (Independent) 44.3%
Puerto Rico	Sila Calderón	Popular Democratic	2000	Incumbent retired. New governor elected. Popular Democratic hold.	Y Aníbal Acevedo Vilá (PPD) 48.4% Pedro Rosselló (PNP) 48.2% Rubén Berríos (PIP) 2.7%

Closest races

States where the margin of victory was under 1%:

1. Washington, 0.005%
2. Puerto Rico, 0.2%

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:

1. New Hampshire, 2.1%
2. Missouri, 3.0%
3. Montana, 4.4%

States where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. Delaware, 5.1%
2. Indiana, 7.7%

Delaware

The 2004 Delaware gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2004, coinciding with the U.S. presidential election. Incumbent Governor Ruth Ann Minner faced a serious challenge from retired Superior Court Judge Bill Lee, but managed a five-point victory on election day. As of 2022, this was the last time Kent County voted for the Republican candidate in a gubernatorial election or that the statewide margin was within single digits.

Indiana

The 2004 Indiana gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2004, to elect the Governor of Indiana.

Incumbent Democratic Governor Joe Kernan was defeated by Republican Mitch Daniels. Daniels' victory was the first time the Republican Party had been elected governor since 1984, and gave the party control of all the important statewide offices. It was also the first time an incumbent governor had been defeated since the Constitution of Indiana was amended in 1972 to permit governors to serve two consecutive terms.

Missouri

The 2004 Missouri gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2004 for the post of Governor of Missouri. The Republican nominee, Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt, defeated Democratic State Auditor Claire McCaskill. This gave the Republican Party control of both the governorship and the Missouri General Assembly for the first time in 80 years.

McCaskill had earlier defeated incumbent Governor Bob Holden in the Democratic primary. This was the first time a sitting Governor of Missouri had been defeated in a primary and the first time any United States governor had lost in a primary since the 1994 elections.

Coincidentally, McCaskill's mother Betty Anne had previously been defeated by Blunt's grandfather, Leroy Blunt, in a 1978 General Assembly election. Blunt's father Roy Blunt was a Congressman and served with McCaskill in the U.S. Senate from 2011 to 2019.

Montana

The 2004 Montana gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2004 for the post of Governor of Montana. Democrat Brian Schweitzer defeated Montana Secretary of State and Republican nominee Bob Brown with 50.4% of the vote against 46%. Schweitzer formed a ticket with a Republican running mate, choosing state legislator John Bohlinger for the lieutenant governorship.

New Hampshire

The 2004 New Hampshire gubernatorial election occurred on November 2, 2004, concurrent with that year's presidential election. Democrat John Lynch, a multimillionaire businessman from Hopkinton, narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Governor Craig Benson of Rye, winning a two-year term. Benson was the first New Hampshire governor in 80 years to lose reelection after one term. Lynch was sworn in on January 6, 2005.

To date, Benson is the most recent incumbent governor to lose reelection in any New England state.

North Carolina

The 2004 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2004. The general election was between the Democratic incumbent Mike Easley and the Republican nominee Patrick J. Ballantine. Easley won by 56% to 43%, winning his second term as governor. This is the last time a Democrat was elected governor of North Carolina by double digits.

North Dakota

The 2004 North Dakota gubernatorial election took place on 2 November 2004 for the post of Governor of North Dakota. Incumbent Republican Governor John Hoeven was easily re-elected defeating Democratic-NPL former state senator Joe Satrom.

Utah

The 2004 Utah gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2004. The incumbent governor was Republican Olene S. Walker, who had become governor following Mike Leavitt's resignation to join the George W. Bush administration. However, Walker placed fourth in the Republican primary, far behind Jon Huntsman Jr. Huntsman won the nomination and went on to win the general election, carrying 25 of the 29 counties and winning 57.7% of the overall vote. This was the last time that a Democratic nominee for any statewide office has received forty percent or more of the popular vote, and the most recent election in which a Democratic nominee carried more than three counties in the state.

Vermont

The 2004 Vermont gubernatorial election took place November 2, 2004 for the post of Governor of Vermont. Incumbent Republican Governor Jim Douglas was re-elected. Douglas defeated Peter Clavelle, the Progressive Mayor of Burlington who ran as a Democrat.

Washington

The 2004 Washington gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2004. The race gained national attention for its legal twists and extremely close finish, among the closest political races in United States election history. Republican Dino Rossi was declared the winner in the initial automated count and again in a subsequent automated recount, but after a second recount done by hand, Democrat Christine Gregoire took the lead by a margin of 129 votes.

Although Gregoire was sworn in as governor of Washington on January 12, 2005, Rossi did not formally concede and called for a re-vote over concerns about the integrity of the election. The Republican Party filed a lawsuit in Chelan County Superior Court contesting the election, but the trial judge ruled against it, citing lack of evidence of deliberate electoral sabotage. Rossi chose not to appeal to the Washington State Supreme Court, formally conceding the election on June 6, 2005.

West Virginia

The 2004 West Virginia gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2004 for the post of Governor of West Virginia. Democratic Secretary of State of West Virginia Joe Manchin defeated Republican Monty Warner. Manchin won all but 3 counties. Despite Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry losing the state to George W. Bush by double digits in the concurrent presidential election, Manchin won by nearly 30 points.

See also

• 2004 United States elections
  • 2004 United States presidential election
  • 2004 United States Senate elections
  • 2004 United States House of Representatives elections