He ran for President in 2004 but was defeated

He ran for President in 2004 but was defeated. John Kerry defeated multiple Democratic challengers in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries, including Sen. John Edwards (D-North Carolina), former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, and retired Army General Wesley Clark. His victory in the Iowa caucuses is widely seen as the tipping point that resurrected Kerry's sinking campaign in New Hampshire and, on February 3, 2004, in primary states such as Arizona, South Carolina, and New Mexico. Kerry then won landslide victories in Nevada and Wisconsin. Kerry, therefore, earned the Democratic nomination to run against incumbent George W. Bush for President of the United States. On July 6, 2004, he announced his choice of running mate John Edwards. Democratic strategist Bob Shrum, Kerry's 2004 campaign consultant, claimed in a Time magazine story that after the election, Kerry said he wished he hadn't chosen Edwards and that the two have since stopped speaking.

Kerry regularly lambasted President George W. Bush for beginning the Iraq War during his 2004 presidential campaign. While Kerry initially supported President Bush's use of force against Saddam Hussein, he voted against an $87 billion supplemental funding package to fund the subsequent conflict. His March 16, 2004, statement, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it," aided the Bush campaign in portraying him as a flip-flopper and has been considered a factor in Kerry's defeat.

Kerry surrendered the election on November 3, 2004. Kerry received 59.03 million votes, or 48.3 percent of the popular vote, whereas Bush received 62.04 million votes or 50.7 percent of the vote. Kerry won states by a margin of 252 electoral votes. Kerry received one electoral vote for his running partner, Edwards, giving him 251 electoral votes to Bush's 286.