President George W. Bush won a second term in the White House in the presidential election of November 3, 2004.
The Republican president and his running-mate, Vice-President Dick Cheney, won 62,040,610 votes – 50.73% – to carry 31 states and secure 286 electoral college votes.
Bush’s Democratic Party opponent, Senator John Kerry, won 59,028,444 votes – 48.27% – to carry 19 states plus the District of Columbia, and secure 252 electoral college votes.
Bush’s winning margin was the smallest ever for a re-elected president. There was one ‘faithless elector’ from Minnesota who voted for John Edwards, reducing Kerry to 251 electoral college votes.
- Listen to Andrew Card, Chief of Staff to President Bush, assert that Bush has won the election (4m)
- Listen to Senator John F. Kerry, Democratic candidate for President, concede defeat (17m)
- Listen to Vice-President Dick Cheney introduce President Bush to cheering supporters (4m)
- Listen to President George W. Bush claim victory (10m)
- Listen to Cheney and Bush (14m – unedited)