2004 United States Senate election in Arkansas

none March 2026 September 2023 2004 United States Senate election in Arkansas Arkansas 1924 presidential no 1998 United States Senate election in Arkansas 1998 2010 United States Senate election in Arkansas 2010 November 2, 2004 Image:Blanche Lincoln official portrait.jpg 150x150px Blanche Lincoln Democratic Party (United States) 580,973 55.90% File:Jim & Bobye May 07 (cropped).jpg Jim Holt Republican Party (United States) 458,036 44.07% 210px County results 210px Congressional district results Lincoln: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80%Holt: #e27f7f 50–60% U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln Democratic Party (United States) Blanche Lincoln Democratic Party (United States) The 2004 United States Senate election in Arkansas took place on November 2, 2004, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln won re-election to a second term in office, despite George W. Bush winning the state in the same election cycle. As of 2026, this was the last time Democrats won the Class 3 Senate seat from Arkansas, and also the last time Arkansas elected a woman to the United States Congress. Background Incumbent Democrat Blanche Lincoln ran for re-election. Lincoln won re-election over Republican State Senator Jim Holt, while President George W. Bush carried the state with almost the same margin of victory. The Democratic Party held super-majority status in the Arkansas General Assembly. A majority of local and statewide offices were also held by Democrats. This was rare in the modern South, where a majority of statewide offices are held by Republicans. Arkansas had the distinction in 1992 of being the only state in the country to give the majority of its vote to a single candidate in the presidential election—native son Bill Clinton—while every other state's electoral votes were won by pluralities of the vote among the three candidates. Arkansas has become more reliably Republican in presidential elections in recent years. The state voted for John McCain in 2008 by a margin of 20 percentage points, making it one of the few states in the country to vote more Republican than it had in 2004, the others being Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia.Wikimedia December 2022 Obama's relatively poor showing in Arkansas was likely due to a lack of enthusiasm from state Democrats following former Arkansas First Lady Hillary Clinton's failure to win the nomination, and his relatively poor performance among rural white voters (Clinton, however, herself lost the state by an even greater margin as the Democratic nominee in 2016). Democrats had an overwhelming majority of registered voters, the Democratic Party of Arkansas is more conservative than the national entity. Two of Arkansas' three Democratic Representatives were members of the Blue Dog Coalition, which tends to be more pro-business, pro-military, and socially conservative than the center-left Democratic mainstream. Reflecting the state's large evangelical population, the state has a strong social conservative bent. Under the Arkansas Constitution Arkansas is a right to work state, its voters passed a ban on same-sex marriage, with 74% voting yes, and the state is one of a handful that has legislation on its books banning abortion. Republican primary Candidates Declared Rosemarie Clampitt, retired actresshttp://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=1750932&nav=0jshLvwS Blytheville Native Launches U.S. Senate Bid 31 March 2004 kait8.com 26 December 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20150406042517/http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=1750932&nav=0jshLvwS 6 April 2015 dead Jim Holt, state senator Andy Lee, Benton County sheriff Results Republican primary resultshttp://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=5&year=2004&f=0&off=3&elect=2 2004 Senatorial Republican Primary Election Results - Arkansas David Leip uselectionatlas.org Jim Holt Republican Party (United States) 37,254 68.9% Andy Lee Republican Party (United States) 10,709 19.8% Rosemarie Clampitt Republican Party (United States) 6,078 11.3% 54,041 100.0% General election Candidates Jim Holt (R), state senator Blanche Lincoln (D), incumbent U.S. senator Campaign Lincoln was a popular incumbent. In March, she had an approval rating of 55%.http://old.nationalreview.com/miller/miller200403080825.asp John J. Miller on U.S. Senate & Election 2004 on National Review Online 2010-09-04 https://web.archive.org/web/20120309153013/http://old.nationalreview.com/miller/miller200403080825.asp 2012-03-09 dead Lincoln called herself an advocate for rural America, having grown up on a farm herself. Holt was from Northwest Arkansas, and was also living on a farm.http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=1992963 Sen. Lincoln Visits with Constituents in Region 8 2 July 2004 kait8.com 4 September 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035858/http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=1992963 1 December 2017 dead dmy-all Holt was widely known as a long shot. By the end of June, he had raised just $29,000, while Lincoln had over $5 million cash on hand.http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5674000 https://web.archive.org/web/20160305110542/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5674000/ dead March 5, 2016 Can Republicans hold on to the Senate? NBC News 11 August 2004 Debates Complete video of debate, October 28, 2004 Predictions Source Ranking As of Sabato's Crystal BallThe Final Predictions https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/ljs2004110101/ Sabato's Crystal Ball November 2004 May 2, 2021 Safe D November 1, 2004 Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesizekey Key:A – all adultsRV – registered votersLV – likely votersV – unclear Marginof error BlancheLincoln (D) JimHolt (R) Other /UndecidedSurveyUSASurveyUSA October 31 – November 1, 2004 549 (LV) ± 4.3% 53% 43% 4% Results Arkansas Senate election 2004 Blanche Lincoln (incumbent) Democratic Party (United States) 580,973 55.90% Jim Holt Republican Party (United States) 458,036 44.07% 340 0.03% 1,039,349 100.0% Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Cleburne (largest city: Heber Springs) Lonoke (largest city: Cabot) Montgomery (largest city: Mount Ida) Pike (largest city: Glenwood) Pope (largest city: Russellville) Saline (largest city: Benton) Scott (largest city: Waldron) Stone (largest city: Mountain View) Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Union (largest city: El Dorado) Washington (largest city: Fayetteville) By congressional district Lincoln won three of four congressional districts. District Lincoln Holt RepresentativeArkansas 1 1st 59% 41%Marion BerryArkansas 2 2nd 59% 41%Vic SnyderArkansas 3 3rd 47% 53%John BoozmanArkansas 4 4th 59% 41%Mike Ross See also 2004 United States Senate elections 2002 United States Senate election in Arkansas 2008 United States Senate election in Arkansas Notes References 30em External links Official campaign websites (archived) Blanche Lincoln (D) for Senate Jim Holt (R) for Senate 2004 United States Senate Arkansas