2004 South Carolina Senate election

2004 South Carolina Senate election

November 2, 2004

All 46 seats in the South Carolina Senate
24 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Glenn F. McConnell John C. Land III
Party Republican Democratic
Leader's seat 41st 36th
Seats before 25 21
Seats after 26 20
Seat change 1 1

President pro tempore before election

Glenn F. McConnell
Republican

Elected President pro tempore

Glenn F. McConnell
Republican

The 2004 South Carolina Senate election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. The primary elections were held on June 8, and the runoff elections were held on June 22. With each Senator's four-year term expired, all forty-six seats were up for election.

Republicans retained their majority gained in the 2002 South Carolina Senate elections, marking the first prolonged period of Republican rule of the chamber since the Reconstruction Era, and the "maturity" of South Carolina's "long-predicated [political realignment]" away from Democratic control.

Experts noted this election for its predictability, with "very few seats seriously contested." Republicans contested just eight seats, while Democrats contested nine. This aligned with a surge in uncontested state legislative races across the country.