| Election Name: | 2004 Libertarian Party presidential primaries |
| Country: | United States |
| Type: | primary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Name: | no |
| Previous Year: | 2000 |
| Election Date: | February 3, 2004–May 11, 2004 |
| Next Year: | 2008 |
| Votes For Election: | Non-binding preferential vote |
| Candidate1: | Gary Nolan |
| Color1: | DAA521 |
| States Carried1: | 5 |
| Popular Vote1: | 14,683 |
| Percentage1: | 55.0% |
| Candidate2: | Aaron Russo |
| States Carried2: | 0 |
| Popular Vote2: | 4,964 |
| Percentage2: | 18.6% |
| Candidate3: | Michael Badnarik |
| States Carried3: | 0 |
| Popular Vote3: | 4,879 |
| Percentage3: | 18.3% |
| Libertarian nominee | |
| Before Election: | Harry Browne |
| After Election: | Michael Badnarik |
| Map Size: | 400px |
The 2004 Libertarian Party presidential primaries allowed voters to indicate non-binding preferences for the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate. These differed from the Republican or Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses in that they did not appoint delegates to represent a candidate at the party's convention to select the party's nominee for the United States presidential election. The party's nominee for the 2004 presidential election was chosen directly by registered delegates at the 2004 Libertarian National Convention, which ran from May 28 to 31, 2008. The delegates nominated Michael Badnarik for president and Richard Campagna for vice president.
Five primaries were held.[1] A total of 26,701 votes were cast in these primaries.
| Candidate | Profession | Campaign | On primary ballot | Popular vote | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MO | WI | CA | MA | NE | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Nolan, Gary" | Gary Nolan | Talk radio host | data-sort-value="14683" | 14,683 | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Russo, Aaron" | Aaron Russo | Entertainment businessman, film producer and director, and political activist | data-sort-value="4964" | 4,964 | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Badnarik, Michael" | Michael Badnarik | Software engineer | data-sort-value="4879" | 4,879 | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Link, Alden" | Jeffrey Diket | data-sort-value="223" | 223 | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Perez, Ruben" | Ruben Perez | 2002 candidate for Texas Railroad Commission[2] | data-sort-value="219" | 219 | ||||||||
| Colspan=11 | Alternate ballot options: | |||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Uncommitted/No preference/Uninstructed delegation" | Uncommitted/No preference/Uninstructed delegation | N/A | data-sort-value="1115" | 1,115 | ||||||||
| Candidate | Votes | % | First-place primary/caucus finishes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Nolan | 14,683 | 54.99% | style=text-align:center | 5 |
| Aaron Russo | 4964 | 18.59% | ||
| Michael Badnarik | 4,879% | 18.27 | ||
| Uncommitted/uninstructed | 885 | 3.31% | ||
| Jeffery Diket | 223 | 0.84% | ||
| Ruben Perez | 219 | 0.82% | ||
| Scattered write-ins | 214 | 0.80% |
In the Wisconsin primary on February 3, the Libertarian Party had a state-run primary held alongside the Democratic, Republican primaries.[3]
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Nolan | 899 | 45.7 | |
| Uncommitted | 746 | 37.9 | |
| N. Ruben Perez | 167 | 8.5 | |
| Jeffrey Diket | 155 | 7.9 | |
| Total | 1,967 | 100 |
In the Wisconsin primary on February 17, the Libertarian Party had a state-run primary held alongside the Democratic, Republican primaries.[4] [5]
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Nolan | 1,491 | 43.2 | |
| Michael Badnarik | 1,416 | 41.0 | |
| Uninstructed delegation | 139 | 4.0 | |
| Total | 3,450 | 100 |
Type: Semi-ClosedIn the California primary on March 2, the Libertarian Party had a state-run primary held alongside those for the Republicans, Democrats, the Green Party, and the Peace and Freedom Party.[6]
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Nolan | 11,885 | 59.2 | |
| Aaron Russo | 4,858 | 24.2 | |
| Michael Badnarik | 3,335 | 16.6 | |
| Total | 20,078 | 100 |
In the Massachusetts primary on March 2, the Libertarian Party had a state-run primary held alongside the Democratic, Republican, and Green primaries.[1] [7]
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Nolan | 292 | 28.0 | |
| No preference | 230 | 22.0 | |
| Aaron Russo | 106 | 10.2 | |
| Michael Badnarik | 82 | 7.9 | |
| Jeffrey Diket | 68 | 6.5 | |
| Ruben Perez | 52 | 5.0 | |
| Write-ins | 214 | 20.5 | |
| Total | 1,044 | 100 |
In the Nebraska primary on May 11, the Libertarian Party had a state-run primary held alongside the Democratic and Republican primaries.[9]
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Nolan | 116 | 71.6 | |
| Michael Badnarik | 46 | 28.4 | |
| Total | 162 | 100 |
See also: 2004 Libertarian National Convention.
Presidential primaries