2004 United States presidential election in South Carolina

Main article: 2004 United States presidential election

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.

2004 United States presidential election in South Carolina

← 2000 November 2, 2004 2008 →

Nominee George W. Bush John Kerry Party Republican Democratic Home state Texas Massachusetts Running mate Dick Cheney John Edwards Electoral vote 8 0 Popular vote 937,974 661,699 Percentage 57.98% 40.90%

County results Congressional district results 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

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.

2004 South Carolina Democratic presidential primary

← 2000 February 3, 2004 (2004-02-03) 2008 →
← OK MI →
45 pledged delegates to the 2004 Democratic National Convention
Nominee John Edwards John Kerry Home state North Carolina Massachusetts Delegate count 28 17 Popular vote 131,174 88,508 Percentage 44.86% 30.27%   Nominee Al Sharpton Wesley Clark Home state New York Arkansas Delegate count 0 0 Popular vote 28,201 21,011 Percentage 9.65% 7.19%
Election results by county. Red denotes counties won by Edwards, and Blue denotes those won by Kerry.

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
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
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

County Flips:

Democratic   Hold   Gain from Republican

Republican   Hold   Gain from Democratic

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 that elected a Democrat.^[10]

District	Bush	Kerry	Representative
1st	61%	38%	Henry E. Brown Jr.
2nd	60%	39%	Joe Wilson
3rd	65%	34%	Gresham Barrett
4th	65%	34%	Jim DeMint
			Bob Inglis
5th	58%	41%	John Spratt
6th	39%	60%	Jim Clyburn

Electors

Main article: List of 2004 United States presidential 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.

1. Katon Dawson
2. Buddy Witherspoon
3. Wayland Moody
4. Thomas McLean
5. Brenda Bedenbaugh
6. Edwin Foulke
7. Robert Reagan
8. Drew McKissick