United States Senate election in Georgia, 2004

United States Senate election in Georgia, 2004

November 2, 2004

Nominee Johnny Isakson Denise Majette Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,864,205 1,287,695 Percentage 57.88% 39.98%

County Results

Senator before election Zell Miller Democratic Elected Senator Johnny Isakson Republican

The 2004 United States Senate election in Georgia took place on November 2, 2004 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Zell Miller decided to retire, leaving an open seat. Majette became both the first African American and the first woman to be nominated for the U.S. Senate in Georgia. Republican Johnny Isakson won the open seat.

Major candidates

Democratic

• Denise Majette, U.S. Representative

Republican

• Johnny Isakson, U.S. Representative
• Herman Cain, former CEO of Godfather's Pizza^[1]

Campaign

Majette's announcement that she would seek to replace Miller also caught Democrats by surprise, as she was not on anyone's call list when Democrats began seeking a candidate to replace Miller. Further skepticism among Democrats about the viability of her candidacy surfaced when she announced that "God" had told her to run for the Senate. She received important endorsements from US Senators Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, along with many others in Washington who campaigned and raised money for Majette. Her Senate campaign slogan was "I'll be nobody's Senator, but yours."

A number of factors led to Majette's loss. These include her late start, her valuable time and money spent in the runoff, larger conservative turnout from proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages (which Majette opposed), the popularity of President George W. Bush, and her lack of experience (being a one term congresswoman).

Results

2004 United States Senate election, Georgia[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Johnny Isakson	1,864,205	57.88%	+19.97
	Democratic	Denise Majette	1,287,695	39.98%	-18.22
	Libertarian	Allen Buckley	69,051	2.14%	+2.14
Majority			576,510	17.90
Turnout			3,220,951
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing

References

1. "Three Republicans battling for spots in Georgia's likely Senate runoff". New.accessnorthga.com. March 27, 2004. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
2. "United States Senator". Georgia of Secretary of State. 2005-12-21. Retrieved 2008-12-03.

See also