Washington gubernatorial election, 2020
- Election date: Nov. 3
- Registration deadline(s): Nov. 3 (in person); Oct. 26 (online; by mail)
- Online registration:Yes
- Same-day registration: Yes
- Recount laws
- Early voting starts: Oct. 16[1]
- Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): Nov. 3 (received)
- Processing, counting, and challenging absentee/mail-in ballots
- Voter ID: No ID
- Poll times: Varies locally[1]
- Presidential election
- Congress elections
- State elections
- Local elections
- Voter information
2024→ ←2016 |
| Governor of Washington |
|---|
 |
| Top-two primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: May 15, 2020 |
| Primary: August 4, 2020 General: November 3, 2020 Pre-election incumbent(s): Gov.Jay Inslee (D) |
| How to vote |
| Poll times: Poll opening hours vary; close at 8 p.m. (most voting done by mail) Voting in Washington |
| Race ratings |
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic Inside Elections: Solid Democratic |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| Federal and state primary competitiveness State executive elections in 2020 Impact of term limits in 2020 State government trifectas State government triplexes Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020 |
| Washington executive elections |
| Governor Lieutenant Governor |
Washington held an election forgovernor onNovember 3, 2020. A primary was scheduled for August 4, 2020. The filing deadline was May 15, 2020.
IncumbentJay Inslee (D) andLoren Culp (R) won theAugust 4 top-two primary with 50% and 17% of the vote, respectively.
IncumbentJay Inslee won election in the general election for Governor of Washington.
Election procedure changes in 2020
Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of thecoronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.
Washington did not modify any procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election.
For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak,click here.
Candidates and results
General election
General election for Governor of Washington
IncumbentJay Inslee defeatedLoren Culp in the general election for Governor of Washington on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jay Inslee (D) | 56.6 | 2,294,243 |
 | Loren Culp (R) | 43.1 | 1,749,066 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 13,145 | ||
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 4,056,454 | ||
 = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Governor of Washington
The following candidates ran in the primary for Governor of Washington on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jay Inslee (D) | 50.1 | 1,247,916 |
| ✔ | | Loren Culp (R) | 17.4 | 433,238 |
 | Joshua Freed (R) | 8.9 | 222,553 | |
 | Tim Eyman (R) | 6.4 | 159,495 | |
 | Raul Garcia (R) | 5.4 | 135,045 | |
 | Phil Fortunato (R) | 4.0 | 99,265 | |
 | Don Rivers (D) | 1.0 | 25,601 | |
 | Leon Lawson (Trump Republican Party) | 0.9 | 23,073 | |
 | Liz Hallock (G) | 0.9 | 21,537 | |
 | Cairo D'Almeida (D) | 0.6 | 14,657 | |
 | Anton Sakharov (Trump Republican Party) | 0.6 | 13,935 | |
 | Nate Herzog (Pre-2016 Republican Party) | 0.5 | 11,303 | |
| Gene Hart (D) | 0.4 | 10,605 | ||
| Omari Tahir-Garrett (D) | 0.4 | 8,751 | ||
| Ryan Ryals (Unaffiliated) | 0.3 | 6,264 | ||
 | Henry Dennison (Socialist Workers Party) | 0.2 | 5,970 | |
 | GoodSpaceGuy (Trump Republican Party) | 0.2 | 5,646 | |
 | Richard Carpenter (R) | 0.2 | 4,962 | |
| Elaina Gonzalez (Independent) | 0.2 | 4,772 | ||
| Matthew Murray (R) | 0.2 | 4,489 | ||
 | Thor Amundson (Independent) | 0.1 | 3,638 | |
 | Bill Hirt (R) | 0.1 | 2,854 | |
| Martin Wheeler (R) | 0.1 | 2,686 | ||
| Ian Gonzales (R) | 0.1 | 2,537 | ||
 | Joshua Wolf (New Liberty Party) | 0.1 | 2,315 | |
 | Cregan Newhouse (Unaffiliated) | 0.1 | 2,291 | |
| Brian Weed (Unaffiliated) | 0.1 | 2,178 | ||
 | Alex Tsimerman (Standup-America Party) | 0.1 | 1,721 | |
| Tylor Grow (R) | 0.1 | 1,509 | ||
 | Dylan Nails (Independent) | 0.1 | 1,470 | |
| Craig Campbell (Unaffiliated) | 0.0 | 1,178 | ||
| William Miller (American Patriot Party) | 0.0 | 1,148 | ||
| Cameron Vessey (Unaffiliated) | 0.0 | 718 | ||
| Winston Wilkes (Propertarianist Party) | 0.0 | 702 | ||
 | David Blomstrom (Fifth Republic Party) | 0.0 | 519 | |
| David Voltz (Cascadia Labour Party) | 0.0 | 480 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 1,938 | ||
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 2,488,959 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mathew Mackenzie (R)
- Phillip Bailey (D)
- Asa Palagi (Independent)
- Lisa Thomas (Unaffiliated)
- Matthew Heines (Unaffiliated)
Ballot access requirements
The table below details filing requirements for gubernatorial candidates in Washington in the 2020 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Washington, clickhere.
| Filing requirements for gubernatorial candidates, 2020 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Office | Party | Signatures required | Signature formula | Filing fee | Filing fee formula | Filing deadline | Source |
| Washington | Governor | All candidates | N/A | N/A | $1,821.79 | 1% of annual salary | 5/15/2020 | Source |
Past elections
2016
General election
IncumbentJay Inslee defeatedBill Bryant in the Washington governor election.
| Washington Governor, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Jay InsleeIncumbent | 54.24% | 1,760,520 | |
| Republican | Bill Bryant | 45.49% | 1,476,346 | |
| Write-in votes | 0.26% | 8,416 | ||
| Total Votes | 3,245,282 | |||
| Source:Washington Secretary of State | ||||
Primary election
Note: Washington utilizes a mail-in ballot system. Results were not finalized until 14 days after the primary election.[2]
The following candidates ran in the Washington primary for governor.
| Washington primary for governor, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Jay InsleeIncumbent | 49.30% | 687,412 | |
| Republican | Bill Bryant | 38.33% | 534,519 | |
| Republican | Bill Hirt | 3.47% | 48,382 | |
| Democratic | Patrick O'Rourke | 2.91% | 40,572 | |
| Independent | Steve Rubenstein | 1.62% | 22,582 | |
| Democratic | James Robert Deal | 1.05% | 14,623 | |
| Democratic | Johnathan Dodds | 1.01% | 14,152 | |
| Republican | Goodspaceguy | 0.95% | 13,191 | |
| Socialist Workers Party | Mary Martin | 0.74% | 10,374 | |
| Fifth Republic Party | David Blomstrom | 0.32% | 4,512 | |
| Holistic Party | Christian Joubert | 0.29% | 4,103 | |
| Total Votes | 1,394,422 | |||
| Source:Washington Secretary of State | ||||
2012
Christine Gregoire (D) did not run for re-election in 2012.Jay Inslee (D) narrowly defeatedRepublicanAttorney GeneralRob McKenna in the general election on November 6, 2012.[3]
| Governor of Washington General Election, 2012 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Jay Inslee | 51.4% | 1,582,802 | |
| Republican | Rob McKenna | 48.3% | 1,488,245 | |
| Other | Write-in votes | 0.3% | 8,592 | |
| Total Votes | 3,079,639 | |||
| Election results viaWashington Secretary of State | ||||
To view the electoral history dating back to 2000 for the office of Governor of Washington, click [show] to expand the section. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2008 On November 4, 2008,Christine Gregoire won re-election to the office of Governor of Washington. She defeatedDino Rossi in the general election.
2004 On November 2, 2004,Christine Gregoire won election to the office of Governor of Washington. She defeatedDino Rossi, Ruth Bennett in the general election.
2000 On November 7, 2000, Gary Locke won re-election to the office of Governor of Washington. He defeated John Carlson, Steve W. LePage in the general election.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
About the office
Governor
- Main article:Governor of Washington
Thegovernor of the state of Washington is an elected constitutional officer, the head of the executive branch, and the highest state office inWashington. The governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and has no term limit. The 23rd and current governor isJay Inslee, aDemocrat elected in 2012. He succeededChristine Gregoire (D) on January 16, 2013.
State profile
| Demographic data for Washington | ||
|---|---|---|
| Washington | U.S. | |
| Total population: | 7,160,290 | 316,515,021 |
| Land area (sq mi): | 66,456 | 3,531,905 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White: | 77.8% | 73.6% |
| Black/African American: | 3.6% | 12.6% |
| Asian: | 7.7% | 5.1% |
| Native American: | 1.3% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander: | 0.6% | 0.2% |
| Two or more: | 5.2% | 3% |
| Hispanic/Latino: | 12% | 17.1% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate: | 90.4% | 86.7% |
| College graduation rate: | 32.9% | 29.8% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income: | $61,062 | $53,889 |
| Persons below poverty level: | 14.4% | 11.3% |
| Source:U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Clickhere for more information on the 2020 census andhere for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Washington. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the censushere. | ||
Presidential voting pattern
Washingtonvoted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.
Pivot Counties (2016)
Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted forDonald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting forBarack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won thesePivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, five are located in Washington, accounting for 2.43 percent of the total pivot counties.[4]
Pivot Counties (2020)
In2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won asRetained Pivot Counties and those won byJoe Biden (D) asBoomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Washington had four Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 2.21 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.
More Washington coverage on Ballotpedia
- Elections in Washington
- United States congressional delegations from Washington
- Public policy in Washington
- Endorsers in Washington
- Washington fact checks
- More...
Pivot Counties
- See also:Pivot Counties by state
Five of 39 Washington counties—12.8 percent—arePivot Counties. Pivot Counties are counties that voted forBarack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and forDonald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.
| Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County | Trump margin of victory in 2016 | Obama margin of victory in 2012 | Obama margin of victory in 2008 | ||||
| Clallam County, Washington | 2.76% | 0.38% | 3.30% | ||||
| Cowlitz County, Washington | 13.32% | 4.44% | 11.15% | ||||
| Grays Harbor County, Washington | 6.99% | 14.11% | 14.56% | ||||
| Mason County, Washington | 5.81% | 7.09% | 8.66% | ||||
| Pacific County, Washington | 6.74% | 11.52% | 14.07% | ||||
In the 2016 presidential election,Hillary Clinton (D) won Washington with 52.5 percent of the vote.Donald Trump (R) received 36.8 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Washington cast votes for the winning presidential candidate 73.3 percent of the time. In that same time frame, Washington supported Democratic candidates for president more often than Republican candidates, 53.3 to 43.3 percent. The state favored Democrats in every election between 2000 and 2016.
Presidential results by legislative district
The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in Washington. Click[show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled byDaily Kos.[5][6]
| In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 34 out of 49 state House districts in Washington with an average margin of victory of 25.4 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 30 out of 49 state House districts in Washington with an average margin of victory of 32.1 points. |
| In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 15 out of 49 state House districts in Washington with an average margin of victory of 13.9 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 19 out of 49 state House districts in Washington with an average margin of victory of 14.9 points. |
| 2016 presidential results by state House district | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District | Obama | Romney | 2012 Margin | Clinton | Trump | 2016 Margin | |
| 1 | 59.66% | 37.93% | D+21.7 | 61.73% | 30.36% | D+31.4 | |
| 2 | 47.71% | 49.88% | R+2.2 | 37.79% | 53.05% | R+15.3 | |
| 3 | 57.66% | 38.63% | D+19 | 51.82% | 38.12% | D+13.7 | |
| 4 | 40.00% | 57.37% | R+17.4 | 34.91% | 56.36% | R+21.4 | |
| 5 | 53.41% | 44.29% | D+9.1 | 54.74% | 37.12% | D+17.6 | |
| 6 | 46.76% | 50.72% | R+4 | 44.72% | 46.75% | R+2 | |
| 7 | 36.16% | 61.01% | R+24.9 | 29.00% | 63.45% | R+34.5 | |
| 8 | 36.10% | 61.49% | R+25.4 | 34.54% | 57.03% | R+22.5 | |
| 9 | 37.70% | 59.71% | R+22 | 35.13% | 56.40% | R+21.3 | |
| 10 | 50.21% | 47.38% | D+2.8 | 46.94% | 45.07% | D+1.9 | |
| 11 | 67.51% | 30.27% | D+37.2 | 67.74% | 25.40% | D+42.3 | |
| 12 | 39.91% | 57.67% | R+17.8 | 37.34% | 55.97% | R+18.6 | |
| 13 | 35.70% | 61.75% | R+26 | 31.04% | 61.91% | R+30.9 | |
| 14 | 42.63% | 54.97% | R+12.3 | 38.98% | 54.23% | R+15.2 | |
| 15 | 45.75% | 52.31% | R+6.6 | 42.51% | 51.74% | R+9.2 | |
| 16 | 38.20% | 59.21% | R+21 | 36.00% | 56.67% | R+20.7 | |
| 17 | 48.28% | 49.36% | R+1.1 | 45.51% | 46.88% | R+1.4 | |
| 18 | 43.85% | 54.12% | R+10.3 | 42.36% | 50.56% | R+8.2 | |
| 19 | 53.59% | 43.66% | D+9.9 | 41.57% | 50.52% | R+8.9 | |
| 20 | 40.98% | 56.26% | R+15.3 | 30.96% | 61.41% | R+30.4 | |
| 21 | 61.52% | 36.25% | D+25.3 | 62.27% | 30.19% | D+32.1 | |
| 22 | 63.17% | 33.68% | D+29.5 | 60.67% | 30.15% | D+30.5 | |
| 23 | 57.91% | 39.72% | D+18.2 | 56.69% | 34.37% | D+22.3 | |
| 24 | 54.21% | 42.81% | D+11.4 | 48.95% | 43.35% | D+5.6 | |
| 25 | 50.87% | 46.92% | D+4 | 45.23% | 46.56% | R+1.3 | |
| 26 | 49.33% | 48.06% | D+1.3 | 45.36% | 45.35% | D+0 | |
| 27 | 67.29% | 30.00% | D+37.3 | 65.15% | 26.43% | D+38.7 | |
| 28 | 54.44% | 43.37% | D+11.1 | 52.61% | 38.96% | D+13.7 | |
| 29 | 62.55% | 34.97% | D+27.6 | 54.47% | 36.76% | D+17.7 | |
| 30 | 58.70% | 39.18% | D+19.5 | 56.77% | 35.96% | D+20.8 | |
| 31 | 47.88% | 49.93% | R+2.1 | 41.61% | 50.16% | R+8.5 | |
| 32 | 70.64% | 26.92% | D+43.7 | 71.67% | 21.56% | D+50.1 | |
| 33 | 65.65% | 32.25% | D+33.4 | 64.85% | 28.57% | D+36.3 | |
| 34 | 77.41% | 20.25% | D+57.2 | 79.30% | 14.85% | D+64.4 | |
| 35 | 51.47% | 45.95% | D+5.5 | 44.25% | 46.59% | R+2.3 | |
| 36 | 81.82% | 15.34% | D+66.5 | 85.25% | 9.15% | D+76.1 | |
| 37 | 86.30% | 11.18% | D+75.1 | 87.06% | 8.13% | D+78.9 | |
| 38 | 59.99% | 37.08% | D+22.9 | 53.38% | 37.81% | D+15.6 | |
| 39 | 49.44% | 47.52% | D+1.9 | 40.00% | 50.75% | R+10.7 | |
| 40 | 62.09% | 34.70% | D+27.4 | 62.61% | 29.29% | D+33.3 | |
| 41 | 60.00% | 38.22% | D+21.8 | 67.76% | 26.09% | D+41.7 | |
| 42 | 49.67% | 47.37% | D+2.3 | 47.57% | 44.43% | D+3.1 | |
| 43 | 85.99% | 10.63% | D+75.4 | 88.74% | 5.96% | D+82.8 | |
| 44 | 54.08% | 43.61% | D+10.5 | 50.96% | 40.24% | D+10.7 | |
| 45 | 58.18% | 39.63% | D+18.6 | 64.80% | 28.03% | D+36.8 | |
| 46 | 78.25% | 19.15% | D+59.1 | 81.92% | 12.42% | D+69.5 | |
| 47 | 55.53% | 42.30% | D+13.2 | 54.37% | 38.29% | D+16.1 | |
| 48 | 61.67% | 35.86% | D+25.8 | 68.17% | 25.02% | D+43.2 | |
| 49 | 57.30% | 40.04% | D+17.3 | 54.21% | 37.87% | D+16.3 | |
| Total | 56.16% | 41.29% | D+14.9 | 54.30% | 38.07% | D+16.2 | |
| Source:Daily Kos | |||||||
Voter guides
2020 State Cannabis Voter Guides
See also
Washington government: | Previous elections: | Ballotpedia exclusives: |
External links
Footnotes
- ↑1.01.11.21.3Washington is a vote-by-mail state. Early voting dates and polling hours apply to county-level vote centers where individuals can instead vote in person.
- ↑Washington Secretary of State, "Frequently Asked Questions on Voting by Mail," accessed August 2, 2016
- ↑Washington Secretary of State, "August 7, 2012 Primary Results: State executives," accessed August 8, 2012
- ↑The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip ofAtlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
- ↑Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts," July 9, 2013
- ↑Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017
