2004 United States Senate election in Wisconsin
The 2004 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held November 2, 2004. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Russ Feingold won re-election to a third term. As of 2021, this is the last time the Democrats have won the Class 3 Senate Seat from Wisconsin.
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 County results Feingold: 40-50% 50–60% 60–70% 80–90% Michels: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Wisconsin |
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Candidates
Democratic
- Russ Feingold, incumbent U.S. Senator[1]
Republican
- Tim Michels, businessman and army veteran[1]
- Robert Welch, State Senator
Libertarian
- Arif Khan, entrepreneur[2]
Independent
- Eugene Hem, perennial candidate and former educator[3]
Campaign
Michels insisted he has more real world experience than Feingold, someone he called an "extreme liberal" who was out of touch with Wisconsin voters.[4] Feingold attacked back by saying that any Republican would be a rubber stamp for President Bush. The incumbent had $2.2 million in the bank, while Michels had already spent $1 million in the primary and had only about $150,000 left.[5]
When the NRSC was convinced in October that Michels had a chance of victory, they pledged $600,000 for him. However, they quickly rescinded this support as a result of negative press garnered by Michels' ads, which were widely viewed as extremely negative and misleading, and due to Feingold's continued large margin over Michels in the polls.[6]
On October 1, a poll showed Feingold leading 52% to 39%.[7] In mid October, another poll showed Feingold winning 48% to 43%. A poll at the end of the month showed him leading 51% to 36%.[8]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Russ Feingold (incumbent) | 1,632,697 | 55.35% | |
| Republican | Tim Michels | 1,301,183 | 44.11% | |
| Libertarian | Arif Khan | 8,367 | 0.28% | |
| Independent | Eugene A. Hem | 6,662 | 0.23% | |
| Write-In Votes | 834 | 0.03% | ||
| Total votes | 2,949,743 | 100.00% | ||
| Democratic hold | ||||
See also
- 2004 United States Senate election
References
- "2004 SENATE RACES" (PDF). CBS News. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
- "In Wisconsin, a Muslim Libertarian for Senate". The Pluralism Project. July 6, 2004. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
- Thoreson, Bridget (October 27, 2004). "Incumbent Feingold faces competition in Senate race". Marquette Wire. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
- HighBeam
- https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_6caAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Y0UEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6652,3445599&dq=tim+michels&hl=en
- Masse, Ryan (October 15, 2004). "Republican committee pulls ads for Michels". The Badger Herald. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
- http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MWSB&p_theme=mwsb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=1057665A96950BA6&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
- https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PKgaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eEUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6021,4541874&dq=tim+michels+poll&hl=en
- "2004 Fall General Election results" (PDF). Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. November 2, 2004. Retrieved March 30, 2015.