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The 2004 United States Senate election in Washington was held on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Patty Murray won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican U.S. Representative George Nethercutt. She became only the fourth Washington senator to win 3 consecutive terms, just after fellow Democrats Warren G. Magnuson and Scoop Jackson[citation needed]. Nethercutt was known for having defeated Tom Foley, the sitting Speaker of the House of Representatives, as part of the 1994 Republican wave.
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County results Murray: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% Nethercutt: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% | |||||||||||||||||
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Term limits became an issue in the campaign, as Democrats seized on Nethercutt's broken term-limits pledge that he had made when he had unseated Foley in 1994. Geography was also against Nethercutt, who was severely hampered by his lack of name recognition in the more densely populated western part of the state, home to two-thirds of the state's population. Washington has not elected a Senator from east of the Cascades since Clarence Dill in 1928. Other important issues included national security and the war in Iraq. Nethercutt supported the invasion of Iraq, while Murray opposed it.
Nethercutt was considered a heavy underdog from the start, and his campaign never gained much traction. In November, he lost by 12 points, receiving 43 percent of the vote to Murray's 55 percent. He only carried two counties west of the Cascades.
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[1] | Likely D | November 1, 2004 |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size[2] |
Margin of error |
Patty Murray (D) |
George Nethercutt (R) |
Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SurveyUSA[3] | October 29–31, 2004 | 622 (LV) | ± 4% | 51% | 45% | 3% |
| Strategic Vision (R)[4] | October 29–31, 2004 | 801 (LV) | ± 3% | 50% | 42% | 8% |
| Strategic Vision (R)[4] | October 24–26, 2004 | 801 (LV) | ± 3% | 49% | 41% | 10% |
| Mason-Dixon[5] | October 25–26, 2004 | 800 (RV) | ± 3.5% | 53% | 39% | 8% |
| SurveyUSA[6] | October 23–25, 2004 | 618 (LV) | ± 4% | 55% | 41% | 4% |
| Strategic Vision (R)[4] | October 16–18, 2004 | 801 (LV) | ± 3% | 49% | 41% | 10% |
| SurveyUSA[7] | October 15–17, 2004 | 634 (LV) | ± 4% | 56% | 38% | 6% |
| Elway Research[8] | October 14–16, 2004 | 405 (RV) | ± 5% | 54% | 37% | 9% |
| Strategic Vision (R)[4] | October 4–6, 2004 | 801 (LV) | ± 3% | 49% | 41% | 10% |
| SurveyUSA[6] | October 2–4, 2004 | 640 (LV) | ± 4% | 57% | 38% | 5% |
| Strategic Vision (R)[4] | September 20–22, 2004 | 801 (LV) | ± 3% | 48% | 41% | 11% |
| SurveyUSA[6] | September 19–21, 2004 | 627 (LV) | ± 4% | 53% | 41% | 6% |
| Elway Research[9] | September 17–19, 2004 | 405 (RV) | ± 5% | 57% | 37% | 6% |
| Strategic Vision (R)[4] | September 4–6, 2004 | 801 (LV) | ± 3% | 48% | 41% | 11% |
| Strategic Vision (R)[4] | August 21–23, 2004 | 801 (LV) | ± 3% | 49% | 41% | 10% |
| SurveyUSA[10] | August 15–17, 2004 | 602 (LV) | ± 4.1% | 53% | 39% | 10% |
| Strategic Vision (R)[4] | August 9–11, 2004 | 801 (LV) | ± 3% | 49% | 40% | 11% |
| SurveyUSA[11] | Jul 31–Aug 2, 2004 | 585 (LV) | ± 4.2% | 51% | 40% | 9% |
| Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates (D)[12] | June 23–28, 2004 | 800 (RV) | ± 3.8% | 56% | 33% | 11% |
| Moore Information (R)[13] | June 23–24, 2004 | 500 (RV) | ± 4% | 51% | 39% | 10% |
| Mason-Dixon (D)[14] | June 9–11, 2004 | 625 (RV) | ± 4% | 53% | 34% | 13% |
| SurveyUSA[15] | June 1–3, 2004 | 654 (RV) | ± 4% | 49% | 34% | 17% |
| Tarrance Group (R)[16] | May 2–3, 2004 | 500 (LV) | ± 4.5% | 50.6% | 41.1% | 8.3% |
| Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates (D)[17] | April 22–27, 2004 | 800 (LV) | ± 3.8% | 54% | 31% | 15% |
| Tarrance Group (R)[18] | May 5–6, 2003 | 504 (LV) | ± 4.5% | 52% | 37% | 11% |
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size[2] |
Margin of error |
Patty Murray (D) |
George Nethercutt (R) |
Reed Davis (R) |
Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elway Research[19] | January 27–29, 2004 | 405 (V) | ± 5% | 49% | 19% | 5% | 27% |
The election was not close, with Murray winning by 12.24% of the vote. Although Murray failed to win any counties in the eastern part of the state, she pulled down big margins from the western part of the state, which is significantly more populated. Specifically, Murray trounced Nethercutt in King County, home of Seattle, the most populous county in the state. Murray was sworn in for a third term on January 3, 2005.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Patty Murray (Incumbent) | 1,549,708 | 54.98% | ||
| Republican | George Nethercutt | 1,204,584 | 42.74% | ||
| Libertarian | J. Mills | 34,055 | 1.21% | ||
| Green | Mark Wilson | 30,304 | 1.08% | ||
| Total votes | 2,818,651 | 100.00% | |||
| Democratic hold | |||||
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