The 2004 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 2, 2004, and 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 12.98% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all twelve 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 Bush's father George H. W. Bush in 1988. As of the 2024 election, this is the last time a Republican presidential candidate won more than 40% of the vote in Maryland, the first time a Republican presidential candidate received more than a million votes in Maryland, and the last time a Democratic presidential nominee has failed to both break 60% of the vote and win by more than a 25% margin in Maryland. At the time, Bush's 1,024,703 votes were the most received by a Republican presidential candidate in the state's history, and would remain so until Donald Trump exceeded this figure in 2024.

Primaries 2004 Maryland Democratic presidential primary

Campaign

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

+SourceRankingD.C. Political ReportCook Political ReportResearch 2000Zogby InternationalWashington PostWashington DispatchWashington TimesThe New York TimesCNNNewsweekAssociated PressRasmussen Reports

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

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

Advertising and visits Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election.

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 16.39%. This also marks the first time since 1880 in which Maryland gave a majority of its vote to a candidate that lost both the popular and electoral vote. This was the first time since 1980 that the state voted for the popular vote loser.

Results 2004 United States presidential election in MarylandPartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Democratic Party John Kerry John Edwards 1,334,493 55.91% 10 Republican Party George W. Bush (incumbent) Dick Cheney (incumbent) 1,024,703 42.93% 0 Populist Party Ralph Nader Peter Camejo 11,854 0.50% 0 Libertarian Party Michael Badnarik Richard Campagna 6,094 0.26% 0 Green Party David Cobb Patricia LaMarche 3,632 0.15% 0 Constitution Party Michael Peroutka Chuck Baldwin 3,421 0.14% 0 Write Ins 2,481 0.11% 0 Totals 2,386,678 100.00% 10 Voter turnout (Voting Age population) 59%

Results by county CountyJohn KerryDemocraticGeorge W. BushRepublicanVarious candidatesOther partiesMarginTotal votes castMaryland State Board of Elections; 2004 Presidential General Election Official Results President and Vice President of the United States # % # % # % # % Allegany 10,576 35.42% 18,980 63.57% 299 1.01% -8,404 -28.15% 29,855 Anne Arundel 103,324 43.11% 133,231 55.59% 3,112 1.30% -29,907 -12.48% 239,667 Baltimore 182,474 51.62% 166,051 46.98% 4,954 1.40% 16,423 4.64% 353,479 Baltimore City 175,022 81.95% 36,230 16.96% 2,311 1.09% 138,792 64.99% 213,563 Calvert 15,967 40.58% 23,017 58.49% 367 0.93% -7,050 -17.91% 39,351 Caroline 3,810 33.55% 7,396 65.13% 150 1.32% -3,586 -31.58% 11,356 Carroll 22,974 28.95% 55,275 69.66% 1,100 1.39% -32,301 -40.71% 79,349 Cecil 14,680 38.97% 22,556 59.87% 438 1.16% -7,876 -20.90% 37,674 Charles 29,354 50.40% 28,442 48.84% 445 0.76% 912 1.56% 58,241 Dorchester 5,411 40.57% 7,801 58.48% 127 0.95% -2,390 -17.91% 13,339 Frederick 39,503 39.27% 59,934 59.58% 1,157 1.15% -20,431 -20.31% 100,594 Garrett 3,291 26.36% 9,085 72.77% 108 0.87% -5,794 -46.41% 12,484 Harford 39,685 35.20% 71,565 63.48% 1,478 1.32% -31,880 -28.28% 112,728 Howard 72,257 54.00% 59,724 44.63% 1,829 1.37% 12,533 9.37% 133,810 Kent 4,278 46.07% 4,900 52.77% 107 1.16% -622 -6.70% 9,285 Montgomery 273,936 65.97% 136,334 32.83% 4,955 1.20% 137,602 33.14% 415,225 Prince George's 260,532 81.81% 55,532 17.44% 2,410 0.75% 205,000 64.37% 318,474 Queen Anne's 7,070 32.44% 14,489 66.48% 235 1.08% -7,419 -34.04% 21,794 Somerset 4,034 44.85% 4,884 54.30% 76 0.85% -850 -9.45% 8,994 St. Mary's 13,776 36.33% 23,725 62.57% 415 1.10% -9,949 -26.24% 37,916 Talbot 7,367 39.05% 11,288 59.84% 12 1.11% -3,921 -20.79% 18,864 Washington 20,387 35.21% 36,917 63.76% 600 1.03% -16,530 -28.55% 57,904 Wicomico 15,137 40.36% 21,998 58.66% 368 0.98% -6,861 -18.30% 37,503 Worcester 9,648 38.24% 15,349 60.84% 232 0.92% -5,701 -22.60% 25,229Totals1,334,49355.91%1,024,70342.93%27,4821.16%309,79012.98%2,386,678

County that flipped from Democratic to Republican Somerset (largest town: Princess Anne)

By congressional district Kerry won six of eight congressional districts. District Kerry Bush Representative 36% 62%Wayne Gilchrest54% 45%Dutch Ruppersberger54% 45%Ben Cardin78% 21%Albert Wynn57% 42%Steny Hoyer 34% 65%Roscoe Bartlett73% 26%Elijah Cummings69% 30%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 their 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 their 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: Norman Conway Delores Kelley Lainey Lebow Sachs Pam Jackson Dorothy Chaney John Riley Wendy Fielde Daphne Bloomberg Tom Perez Gary Gensler

See also United States presidential elections in Maryland 2004 United States presidential election 2004 United States elections

References

External links U.S. Election Atlas, Maryland results