Presidential elections in Washington

Map of the United States with Washington highlighted
Number of elections	34
Voted Democratic	19
Voted Republican	14
Voted other	1[a]
Voted for winning candidate	23
Voted for losing candidate	11

Washington is astate in thePacific Northwest region of the United States. Since itsadmission to the Union in November 1889, the state has participated in 34United States presidential elections.^[2][3] It has had twelveelectoral votes since 2012, when it gained a tenthcongressional district duringreapportionment based on the results of the2010 U.S. census.^[4][5] Washington has conducted its presidential elections throughmail-in voting since 2012 for general elections and 2016 forparty primaries.^[6]

In the1892 presidential election, the first since Washington became a state, PresidentBenjamin Harrison received 41.45% of the popular vote and obtained Washington's four electoral votes in his unsuccessful re-election campaign.^[7] From 1892 to 2024, the state has voted for 15 Republican or third-party presidential candidates and 19 Democratic presidential candidates; Washington has voted for the losing presidential candidate in 11 elections.^[2] Washington generally favored theRepublican Party in presidential elections until1932, reflecting its state and congressional voting patterns.^[8] The state was won byProgressive Party presidential nomineeTheodore Roosevelt in the1912 election; Roosevelt, who had been a Republican during his presidency, is the only third party candidate to have won Washington's presidential election.^[1][8]

From 1932 to 1948, Democratic candidates won Washington inlandslide victories for the presidency and state offices as a result of theGreat Depression andNew Deal.^[8][9] Washington was characterized as aswing state for the remainder of the 20th century and voted 21 times for the winning candidate from 1892 to 1996.^[1][8] The state's voters often hadsplit-ticket ballots with candidates from multiple political parties, which was reflected by Democrats and Republicans alternately holding state offices and majorities in thestate legislature.^[10] Since 1984, no Republican candidate has won a presidential election in Washington; the state'sgovernors have been Democrats since 1980.^[2][11] The state has had fivefaithless electors in theElectoral College who cast ballots for people other than their pledged candidates; these votes were voided and the electors were fined under the state law at the time.^[12] An elector in the1976 election voted forRonald Reagan instead ofGerald Ford, who had won the state's nine electoral votes. In the2016 election, four of the twelve electors from Washington declined to vote forHillary Clinton; three cast their ballots for former general and Secretary of StateColin Powell and one forFaith Spotted Eagle, an indigenous political activist.^[12][13]

TheCascade Mountains mark the boundary between thewestern andeastern regions of Washington, which have differences in culture, climate, and politics.^[14][15] Historically, Western Washington has been generally characterized asliberal orprogressive, while Eastern Washington has been characterized asconservative.^[14][16] The suburban areas of theSeattle metropolitan area, which contains the majority of the state's population, became a reliably Democratic area in the late 20th century and solidified Washington as ablue state.^[15][17] Washington is among 18 states collectively referred to as the "blue wall", coined in 2009 by journalistRon Brownstein, due to their strong preference for Democrats.^[18][19]

The state adopted a single-ballotblanket primary system in 1936 to replace earlier party primaries; until 2020, these were non-binding and not used to determine delegates in national party conventions.^[6][20] In 2010, Washington signed theNational Popular Vote Interstate Compact, aninterstate compact in which signatories award all of their electoral votes to the winner of the federal-level popular vote in a presidential election regardless of the state's vote.^[21] As of 2024^[update], the compact has been signed by 17 states and theDistrict of Columbia, but has not reached the threshold of 270 electoral votes to take effect.^[22]

• Elections in Washington (state)

• United States presidential elections in Washington (state)
• Washington (state) politics-related lists

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