North Dakota was won by incumbent PresidentGeorge W. Bush by a 27.36% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this a state Bush would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. The state has voted Republican in all but five presidential elections since statehood. In 2004, George W. Bush defeated John Kerry with 62.86% of the vote, ven as incumbent Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan overwhelmingly won re-election to the senate on the same ballot. The state's population of about 650,000 is little changed from what it was 80 years ago, as North Dakota is one of seven states with the minimum of three electoral votes.
Neither campaign visited or advertised in this state during the fall campaign.[5][6]
Analysis
In 2000, Al Gore won two counties, compared to Kerry who won four counties in the state, including his best performance in Sioux County, where he won with seventy percent of the vote. Overall, Bush dominated the state, winning a wide majority of the state's counties, and with large margins. In just two counties – both majority Native American – did Bush obtain less than 44 percent of the vote.[7] As of 2020, this is the last election in which the Republican nominee won Cass County by majority.
Due to the state's low population, only one congressional district is allocated. This district is called the At-Large district, because it covers the entire state, and thus is equivalent to the statewide election results.
Technically the voters of ND cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. ND is allocated 3 electors because it has 1 congressional district and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 3 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 3 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.
The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 13, 2004, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for Bush and Cheney:[10]
