2016 United States elections

←2014        2015        2016        2017        2018 → Presidential election year
Election day	November 8
Incumbent president	Barack Obama(Democratic)
Next Congress	115th
Presidential election
Partisan control	Republican gain
Popular vote margin	Democratic +2.1%
Electoral vote
Donald Trump (R)	304
Hillary Clinton (D)	227
Others	7
Presidential election results map.Red denotes states won by Trump/Pence,blue denotes states won by Clinton/Kaine. Numbers indicateelectoral votes allotted to the winner of each state. Sevenfaithless electors cast votes for various individuals.
Senate elections
Overall control	Republican hold
Seats contested	34 of 100 seats
Net seat change	Democratic +2
2016 Senate results      Democratic hold     Republican hold      Democratic gain
House elections
Overall control	Republican hold
Seats contested	All 435 voting-members and 6 non-voting delegates
Popular vote margin	Republican +1.1%
Net seat change	Democratic +6
Map of the 2016 House races (delegate races not shown)      Democratic hold     Republican hold      Democratic gain     Republican gain
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested	14 (12 states, two territories)
Net seat change	Republican +2
Map of the 2016 gubernatorial elections      Democratic hold     Republican hold      Democratic gain     Republican gain      New Progressive gain     Nonpartisan

Elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2016.Republican businessman and media celebrityDonald Trump defeatedDemocratic formerSecretary of StateHillary Clinton in the presidential election, while Republicans retained control ofCongress. This marked the first time Republicans won or held unified control of the presidency and Congress since2004, and would not do so again until2024.

Democrats won a net gain of two seats in the Senate and six seats in the House of Representatives, but Republicans retained control of both chambers. In the gubernatorial elections, Republicans won a net gain of two seats. Various other state, territorial, and local races and referendums were held throughout the year. This was the first presidential election since 2000, where the winning candidate failed to have coattails in either house of Congress. This is the most recent election where one party simultaneously gained seats in both houses of Congress.

Trump won his party's nomination after defeatingTed Cruz and several other candidates in the2016 Republican presidential primaries. With Democratic presidentBarack Obama term-limited, Clinton secured the nomination overBernie Sanders in the2016 Democratic presidential primaries. Trump won the general election with 304 of the 538electoral votes, although Clinton won the popular vote by a margin of 2.1%.

Wall Street banks and other big financial institutionsspent a record $2 billion trying to influence the 2016 United States elections.^[1][2] In the presidential election, Clinton outspent Trump approximately two-to-one.^[3]

Trump'sright-wing populistnationalist campaign, which promised to "Make America Great Again" and opposedpolitical correctness,illegal immigration, and manyUnited States free-trade agreements^[4] garnered extensivefree media coverage due to Trump's inflammatory comments.^[5][6] Clinton emphasized her extensive political experience, denounced Trump and many of his supporters as a "basket of deplorables", bigots and extremists, and advocated the expansion ofPresident Obama's policies;racial,LGBT, andwomen's rights; andinclusive capitalism.^[7]

The United States government's intelligence agencies concluded theRussian government interfered in the 2016 United States elections.^[8][9] A joint US intelligence review stated with high confidence that, "Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. InMay 2019, RepublicanFlorida GovernorRon DeSantis announced Russians hacked voting databases in two Florida counties prior to the 2016 presidential election and no election results were compromised.^[10][11][12]

The election saw an aggressive set of campaigns from both Trump and Clinton leading up to the election, Clinton's being of particular interest when considering the exit polls and voter demographics.^[13] With her gender presenting as the biggest target for Trump's campaign as a point of criticism, theClinton campaign made a conscious decision to capitalize on the negativity surrounding her gender to appeal to female voters (young women in particular) by co-optingfeminist ideals alongside traditional democratic ones. The party's social media campaign was particularly aggressive, with the use ofhashtags andcelebrity endorsement being crucial to Clinton's appeal to the wider public.^[14] This backfired however, when exit polls showed that, while Clinton was popular with the female vote, it was Trump who had won the favour of a majority white female demographic,^[15] with some citing political 'wokeness' as a voter turn-off.^[16]

The United States presidential election of 2016 was the 58th quadrennial presidential election. Theelectoral vote distribution was determined by the2010 census from whichpresidential electors electing the president and vice president were chosen; a simple majority (270) of the 538 electoral votes were required to win. In one of the greatest election upsets in U.S. History, businessman andreality television personalityDonald Trump of New York won theRepublican Party's presidential nomination on July 19, 2016, after defeating Texas SenatorTed Cruz, Ohio GovernorJohn Kasich, Florida SenatorMarco Rubio, and several other candidates in theRepublican primary elections.^[1] FormerSecretary of State, First Lady and New York SenatorHillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on July 26, 2016, after a tough battle with Vermont SenatorBernie Sanders in theDemocratic primary elections. This was the first election with a female presidential nominee from a major political party, as well as the first election since1944 that had major party presidential nominees from the same home state.

Clinton won the popular vote, taking 48% of the vote compared to Trump's 46% of the vote, but Trump won the electoral vote and thus the presidency. The election is one offive presidential elections in American history that the winner of the popular vote did not win the presidency.LibertarianGary Johnson won 3.3% of the popular vote, thestrongest performance by athird party presidential nominee since the1996 election. Trump flipped the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, and Iowa, that were won by Obama in2008 and2012. The former two last voted Republican in 1988 and Wisconsin last did so in 1984.^{[citation needed]}

All seats inSenate Class 3 were up for election. Democrats won a net gain of two seats, but Republicans retained a majority with 52 seats in the 100-member chamber.^[17]

All 435 voting seats in theUnited States House of Representatives were up for election. Additionally, elections were held to select thedelegates for theDistrict of Columbia and theU.S. territories, including theResident Commissioner of Puerto Rico.

Democrats won a net gain of six seats, but Republicans held a 241-to-194 majority following the elections. Nationwide, Republicans won the popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 1.1 percent.^[18]

Regular elections were held for thegovernorships of 11U.S. states and twoU.S. territories. Additionally, a special election was held in Oregon after the resignation ofJohn Kitzhaber asgovernor. Republicans won a net gain of two seats by winning open seats in Missouri, Vermont, and New Hampshire while Democrats defeated an incumbent in North Carolina. However, GovernorJim Justice of West Virginia switched his party affiliation to Republican shortly after his inauguration, thereby netting Republicans 3 seats and giving them 34 seats nationwide, tying their record set in the 1921 elections.

In 2016, 44 states held state legislative elections; 86 of the 99 chambers were up for election. Only six states did not hold state legislative elections: Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Virginia, Alabama, and Maryland.^[19]

Democrats won both chambers in theNevada Legislature and theNew Mexico House of Representatives, while Republicans won theKentucky House of Representatives, theIowa Senate, and theMinnesota Senate. TheAlaska House of Representatives flipped from Republican control to a Democrat-led coalition majority, and theConnecticut State Senate went from Democratic control to tied control.^[20] Meanwhile, theNew York Senate went from Republican to a Republican-led coalition.

Many states also held elections for otherelected offices:

In the2016 United States attorney general elections, Republicans gained one seat in Missouri.

Many states had voters reject or approveballot measures.^[21]

Mayoral elections were held in many cities, including:

• Bakersfield, California: IncumbentHarvey Hall did not seek re-election.^[22]Karen Goh was elected to succeed Hall. The office is not partisan.
• Baltimore, Maryland: Incumbent DemocratStephanie Rawlings-Blake did not seek re-election.^[23] DemocratCatherine E. Pugh was elected as Rawlings-Blake's replacement.
• Gilbert, Arizona: IncumbentJohn Lewis resigned prior to the election.^[24] Interim mayor Jenn Daniels was elected to succeed Lewis. The office is not partisan.
• Honolulu, Hawaii: Incumbent DemocratKirk Caldwell won re-election to a second term.
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: IncumbentTom Barrett was re-elected to a fourth term. The office is not partisan.
• Portland, Oregon: IncumbentCharlie Hales did not seek re-election.^[25]Ted Wheeler was elected to succeed Hales. The office is not partisan.
• Richmond, Virginia: IncumbentDwight C. Jones was term-limited and cannot seek re-election.Levar Stoney was elected as the new Richmond, VA, mayor. The office is not partisan.
• Sacramento, California: Incumbent DemocratKevin Johnson did not seek re-election.^[26] DemocratDarrell Steinberg was elected as Johnson's replacement.^[27]
• San Diego, California: IncumbentKevin Faulconer won a second term as mayor. The office is not partisan.
• Tulsa, Oklahoma: Incumbent RepublicanDewey F. Bartlett Jr. was defeated by city councilor and fellow RepublicanG. T. Bynum.^[28]

The citizens of theCity of Virginia Beach voted against expandingNorfolk'sTide lightrail into their city.^[29]

This table shows the partisan results of congressional, gubernatorial, presidential, and state legislative races held in each state and territory in 2016. Note that not all states and territories hold gubernatorial, state legislative, and United States Senate elections in 2016; additionally, theterritories do not haveelectoral votes in American presidential elections, and neitherWashington, D.C. nor the territories elect members of the United States Senate. Washington, D.C., and the five inhabited territories each elect onenon-voting member of the United States House of Representatives. Nebraska'sunicamerallegislature and the governorship and legislature of American Samoa are officiallynon-partisan. In the table, offices/legislatures that are not up for election in 2016 are already filled in for the "after 2016 elections" section, although vacancies orparty switching could potentially lead to a flip in partisan control.

Italics indicate office was not up for election in 2016.

• One Vote – documentary film about the 2016 election

Wikimedia Commons has media related to2016 elections in the United States.

• "State Elections Legislation Database",Ncsl.org, Washington, D.C.:National Conference of State Legislatures,State legislation related to the administration of elections introduced in 2011 through this year

• 2016 elections in the United States
• General elections in the United States
• November 2016 in the United States

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