Kerry Obama Campaign

Blue and red block letters on blue Illinois state with red background and white text on left. Upper right photograph of John Kerry and John Edwards with white text on blue background. Lower right blue text with photograph of Barack Obama on white background.

In 2004, John Kerry won the Democratic nomination for the United States presidential election. Kerry and his vice presidential pick John Edwards ran against incumbent President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. During their 2004 campaign, Kerry and Edwards endorsed Barack Obama in Illinois’ senatorial race. People traded these Illinois 10th congressional district Kerry-Edwards-Obama buttons all over the U.S. and even in Guam. While Kerry and Edwards lost the presidential election to Bush and Cheney, Obama won the senatorial race in a landslide with 70% of the vote. Obama would also go on to be the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.