John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign
| Campaign | 2004 Democratic primaries 2004 U.S. presidential election |
|---|---|
| Candidate | John Kerry U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1985–2013) John Edwards U.S. Senator from North Carolina (1999–2005) |
| Affiliation | Democratic Party |
| Status | Announced: September 2, 2003 Presumptive nominee: March 2, 2004 Official nominee: July 29, 2004 Election day: November 2, 2004 Projected defeat: November 3, 2004 |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Key people | Mary Beth Cahill (Manager) Bob Shrum (Consultant) |
| Slogan(s) | A Stronger America Let America Be America Again Stronger at Home, Respected in the World |
| Website | |
| www.johnkerry.com (original site via the Internet Archive.) | |
The 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry, the longtime U.S. senator from Massachusetts, began when he formed an exploratory committee on December 1, 2002. On September 2, 2003, he formally announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination. After beating John Edwards, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, and other candidates in the primaries, he became the Democratic nominee, challenging Republican incumbent George W. Bush in the general election. Kerry selected Edwards as his running mate.
Kerry conceded defeat in a telephone call to Bush at around 11 a.m. EST (16:00 UTC) on the morning of November 3, 2004. Had Kerry won, he would have been the first incumbent senator since John F. Kennedy to be elected president and the second Catholic president after Kennedy; the latter feat would be eventually accomplished 16 years later by Joe Biden. Edwards would have been the first vice president from North Carolina. Kerry also would have been the first president born in Colorado and the fifth president from Massachusetts. Kerry was the most recent Democratic presidential nominee to lose both the electoral vote and the popular vote until Kamala Harris in 2024 against Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Edwards would run for president again in the 2008 Democratic primary, finishing third. That year's Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, became the third sitting senator elected president after Warren G. Harding and Kennedy. Kerry would win for another term as a senator from Massachusetts in 2008 until he was nominated by Obama following his reelection in 2012 as Secretary of State.