2004 United States presidential election

The 2004 United States presidential election happened on November 2, 2004. George W. Bush, the incumbent president and Republican candidate, won reelection. He defeated John Kerry, the Democratic candidate, who was the junior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. Foreign policy was the biggest issue during the election mainly because of the War on Terrorism and the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.
Since the last presidential election, there were concerns about voting. The winner was not determined until the following day when Kerry decided not to dispute Bush's win in the state of Ohio. The state held enough electoral votes to determine the winner of the presidency. Both Kerry and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean have stated their opinion that voting in Ohio did not proceed fairly and that, had it done so, the Democratic ticket might have won that state and therefore the election.
Only three states changed which party to vote for. New Mexico and Iowa voted Democratic in 2000, but those states voted Republican in 2004. New Hampshire voted Republican in 2000 but the state voted Democratic in 2004. In the Electoral College, Bush received 286 electoral votes, and Kerry received 251 electoral votes. Kerry was supposed to have 252, but one electoral vote that was supposed to go for Kerry went for his running mate, John Edwards.