2004 Missouri gubernatorial election
November 2, 2004
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County results Blunt: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% McCaskill: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Missouri |
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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 ever 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 election for the state house. Blunt's father, Roy Blunt, was a U.S. representative and later served with McCaskill in the U.S. Senate from 2011 to 2019.