U.S. Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) and his gubernatorial campaign did not respond to a Monday inquiry from The Tennessee Star asking which Democratic presidential candidate received a vote from Rose during the 2004 Democratic primary in Tennessee, which was one of three nominating contests where Rose returned a Democratic ballot.
While the Rose campaign told The Star on Monday that its reporting about his donations to Democrats who supported a state income tax, and his participation in three Democratic Party primary contests during the early 2000s, was a political attack, Rose and his campaign did not respond to a follow-up inquiry seeking information about how he voted during his participation in the Tennessee Democrats’ presidential primary in 2004.
That year, the presidential preference primary in Tennessee notably occurred on February 10, 2004, which was just 22 days after former Vermont Governor Howard Dean unleashed his awkward “Dean Scream” in a gaffe that pundits have judged left his campaign dead in the water.
While the vocal Vermonter would end his campaign on February 18, he first received about 16,000 votes from Tennessee Democrats, or about 4.4 percent of the total Democratic electorate, securing him a fourth-place finish.
Placing first and second among those who participated in the Tennessee Democratic primary were former Secretary of State John Kerry, who received 41 percent of the vote, and former U.S. Senator John Edwards, who received 26.5 percent of the vote. Kerry named Edwards his vice presidential running mate on July 6, and both were confirmed as the Democrats’ presidential nominees at the July 28 convention.
An additional 26.1 percent of those who cast a Democratic primary ballot in Tennessee in 2004 voted for former U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, who finished in third place.
In fifth place, behind Kerry, Edwards, Clark, and Dean, was civil rights figure Al Sharpton, who received about 1.7 percent of the vote in his long shot bid for the Democratic nomination.
The remaining candidate, who was considered a viable candidate and actively seeking the nomination, was former U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich. He received less than 0.7 percent of the vote, placing even behind former Senator Joe Lieberman, who had already suspended his candidacy by time Tennessee conducted its primary.
Combined, about two-thirds of ballots cast in Tennessee’s Democratic primary went to either Kerry or Edwards.
It remains unclear which one of these candidates received support from Rose.
In addition to his primary vote in February 2004, The Star also asked Rose’s campaign whether he voted for the Democratic ticket in November 2004, but did not receive a response. That year, former President George W. Bush won Tennessee with 56.8 percent of the vote. He secured reelection, narrowly winning the popular vote nationally and the Electoral College votes of 31 states.
While Rose last voted in a Democratic primary election in 2004, records kept by the Federal Election Commission reveal he continued sporadically donating to Democrats for another four years. He donated $1,000 to former U.S. Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN-06) in 2008, and $1,000 to former Representative Lincoln Davis (D-TN-04) in 2010.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “John Rose” by John Rose.
