The 2004 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2004. The general election was between the Democratic incumbent Mike Easley and the Republican nominee Patrick J. Ballantine. Easley won by 56% to 43%, winning his second term as governor.

Primaries

Democratic

Mike Easley was first elected as governor in 2000 and opted to run for a second term. He faced opposition in the Democratic primary from Rickey Kipfer, a former corporate manager from Lee County. Kipfer campaigned on a platform of abolishing North Carolina's personal income tax and exploring potential natural gas resources in the state. He envisioned the state replacing income tax revenue with revenue from natural gas exploration. Kipfer also proposed a system similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund as a means of distributing potential natural gas revenues to citizens in North Carolina.

Easley's campaign manager stated that they did not consider Kipfer as serious competition.

  • Fern Shubert, state senator (2003–2005)
Declined
  • James Cain, former president of the Carolina Hurricanes
  • I. Beverly Lake Jr., Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (2001–2006)

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| November 1, 2004

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Polling

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%

|- valign=bottom

! Poll source

! Date(s)<br />administered

! Sample<br />size

! Margin<br />

! style="width:100px;"| Mike<br />Easley (D)

! style="width:100px;"| Patrick<br />Ballantine (R)

! Other /<br />Undecided

|-

|SurveyUSA

| align=center| October 29–31, 2004

| align=center| 617 (LV)

| align=center| ± 4.0%

| align=center| 55%

| align=center| 41%

| align=center| 5%

|}

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

  • Cleveland (largest town: Shelby)
  • Polk (Largest city: Tryon)
  • Rutherford (Largest city: Forest City)
  • Surry (Largest city: Mount Airy)
  • Mecklenburg (Largest city: Charlotte)
  • Alleghany (largest town: Sparta)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

  • Currituck (largest town: Moyock)
  • Johnston (largest town: Clayton)

Notes

References

  • 2004 Gubernatorial Republican Primary Election Results

Official campaign websites (Archived)

  • Mike Easley
  • Patrick Ballantine
  • Dan Barrett
  • Bill Cobey
  • George Little
  • Fern Shubert
  • Richard Vinroot
  • Tim Cook