For the same date are scheduled:

• the U.S. Presidential election, 2004
• the U.S. House election, 2004

Table of contents

1 Major parties 2 Third parties 3 Minor parties 4 Senate contests in 2004 5 External Links

Major parties

The Senate is currently composed of 51 Republicanss, 48 Democratss, and 1 independent. The independent, James Jeffords of Vermont, is allied with the Democratic caucus. The Democrats thus need to make a net gain of two seats to gain control of the Senate.

The Democrats' prospects are weakened, however, by the fact that five incumbent Senators in Southern states will be retiring. These seats, in Florida (Bob Graham), Georgia (Zell Miller), South Carolina (Ernest Hollings), Louisiana (John Breaux) and North Carolina (John Edwards), are all considered vulnerable to Republican challengers. The only Southern Democrat seeking re-election to the Senate is Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

The only Republican seat clearly vulnerable is the seat in Illinois being vacated by Peter Fitzgerald. The Alaska seat currently held by Lisa Murkowski is also considered to be competitive, since the Republican edge in the state is offset by the unpopularity of Governor Frank Murkowski appointing his daughter to the seat, and the popularity of Democrat challenger Tony Knowles. Most political observers, however, believe that it is unlikely that the Democrats will gain control of the Senate in 2004.

Third parties

The Libertarian Party will be contesting most of the seats. The Constitution and Green parties will also contest many of the seats. While none of these parties are yet strong enough to have a significant chance of winning in 2004, they often have enough support to swing elections. The Constitution party draws conservatives from the Republicans, the Greens draw liberals from the Democrats, while the Libertarians draw voters in favor of both social and economic freedom from both major parties. Libertarians can swing a close election either way depending on the particular politics of the other candidates and the issues at play in the particular election. It is possible that the Natural Law and Reform parties may contest several seats, though these two parties have both been waning in recent years. The last time a third party held a US Senate seat was 2002 (Minnesota).

Minor parties

Minor parties in a number of states will contest one or more Senate seats. Examples include the American First Party, the Labor Party, the Peace and Freedom Party, and the Socialist Workers Party. These parties are unlikely to overcome ballot access hurdles, so will have almost no chance of gaining any seats.

Senate contests in 2004

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Possible candidates (§ denotes declared candidates)
Alabama	Richard Shelby	Republican	Running for 4th term	Jim Folsom (Democrat)
Alaska	Lisa Murkowski	Republican	Running for 1st full term	Tony Knowles § (Democrat)
Arizona	John McCain	Republican	Running for 4th term	No serious opposition
Arkansas	Blanche Lincoln	Democrat	Running for 2nd term	Jim Holt (Republican)
California	Barbara Boxer	Democrat	Running for 3rd term	Toni Casey § (Republican) James Gray § (Libertarian) Bill Jones § (Republican) Howard Kaloogian § (Republican) Gail Lightfoot § (Libertarian) Rosario Marin § (Republican)
Colorado	Ben Nighthorse Campbell	Republican	Running for 3rd term	No clear opponent
Connecticut	Christopher Dodd	Democrat	Running for 5th term	No serious opposition
Florida	Bob Graham	Democrat	Retiring	Johnnie Byrd § (Republican) Betty Castor (Democrat) Peter Deutsch (Democrat) Larry Klayman (Republican) Mel Martinez (Republican) Bill McCollum (Republican) Alex Penelas (Democrat) Dan Webster (Republican)
Georgia	Zell Miller	Democrat	Retiring	Jim Marshall (Democrat) Mac Collins (Republican) Johnny Isakson (Republican)
Hawaii	Daniel Inouye	Democrat	Running for 8th term	No serious opposition
Idaho	Mike Crapo	Republican	Running for 2nd term	No serious opposition
Illinois	Peter Fitzgerald	Republican	Retiring	Dan Hynes (Democrat) Barack Obama (Democrat) Blair Hull (Democrat) Jack Ryan (Republican) Jim Oberweis (Republican) Andy McKenna (Republican) (these seems to be the frontrunners: there are many others)
Indiana	Evan Bayh	Democrat	Running for 2nd term	No serious opposition
Iowa	Charles Grassley	Republican	Running for 5th term	Chet Culver (Democrat)
Kansas	Sam Brownback	Republican	Running for 2nd term	No serious opposition
Kentucky	Jim Bunning	Republican	Running for 2nd term	Dan Mongiardo (Democrat)
Louisiana	John Breaux	Democrat	Retiring	Chris John (Democrat) David Vitter (Republican)
Maryland	Barbara Mikulski	Democrat	Running for 4th term	No serious opposition
Missouri	Christopher S. Bond	Republican	Running for 4th term	No serious opposition
Nevada	Harry Reid	Democrat	Running for 4th term	Dean Heller (Republican) Brian Krolicki (Republican)
New Hampshire	Judd Gregg	Republican	Running for 3rd term	Burt Cohen (Democrat)
New York	Charles Schumer	Democrat	Running for 2nd term	No serious opposition
North Carolina	John Edwards	Democrat	Retiring	Dan Blue (Democrat) Erskine Bowles § (Democrat) Richard Burr § (Republican)
North Dakota	Byron Dorgan	Democrat	Running for 3rd term	No serious opposition
Ohio	George Voinovich	Republican	Running for 2nd term	Norbert Dennerll § (Democrat) Eric Fingerhut § (Democrat)
Oklahoma	Don Nickles	Republican	Retiring	Mike Fair (Republican) Brad Carson (Democrat)
Oregon	Ron Wyden	Democrat	Running for 2nd term	No serious opposition
Pennsylvania	Arlen Specter	Republican	Running for 5th term	Joe Hoeffel § (Democrat) Pat Toomey (Republican)
South Carolina	Ernest Hollings	Democrat	Retiring	Charlie Condon (Republican) Jim DeMint (Republican)
South Dakota	Tom Daschle	Democrat	Running for 4th term	John Thune § (Republican)
Utah	Robert Bennett	Republican	Running for 3rd term	No serious opposition
Vermont	Patrick Leahy	Democrat	Running for 6th term	No serious opposition
Washington	Patty Murray	Democrat	Running for 3rd term	Reed Davis (Republican)
Wisconsin	Russ Feingold	Democrat	Running for 3rd term	No serious opposition

External Links