North Carolina was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 12.44% margin of victory.

Bush became the first Republican to win the White House without carrying Mecklenburg or Guilford counties since Calvin Coolidge in 1924.

[6][7] John Edwards failed to make his home state competitive in the general election.

As in most of the rest of the South, he did so once again in North Carolina, notwithstanding Edwards' presence on the Democratic ticket, although his margin of victory did go down slightly, to 12.44%, even as nationally he improved from losing the popular vote by 0.5% to winning it by 2.5%.

The only region in the state that Kerry dominated in was the Northeastern black belt, the location of North Carolina's 1st congressional district.

However, Kerry did narrowly flip two heavily populated counties, Mecklenburg and Guilford, which have gone on to give Democrats over 55% of the vote in every subsequent election as of 2020.

Large Democratic margins in these counties have been instrumental to making North Carolina competitive in every election from 2008 onward.

[10] As of 2020, this is also the last election in which a presidential candidate won North Carolina by double digits, as well as the last time the state was not seriously contested.