2016 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

2016 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
Turnout	78.76% (of registered voters) 2.49%
Clinton 40–50% 50–60% 60–70%	Trump 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%
President before election; Barack Obama; Democratic	Elected President ; Donald Trump; Republican

Results by county showing number of votes by size and candidates by color

Treemap of the popular vote by county

The 2016 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 8, 2016 as part of the 2016 United States presidential election. Washington was won by Hillary Clinton, who won the state with 52.54% of the vote over Donald Trump's 36.83%, a margin of 15.71%. All of the state's 12 electoral votes were assigned to Clinton, though four defected. Trump prevailed in the presidential election nationally.

In the presidential primaries, Washington voters chose Republican Party's nominee; the Democratic Party used the caucus system, and Green Party nominee was chosen in a convention.

Background[]

Washington has voted for the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 1988. While the state's Senate was majority Republican in 2016, both of Washington's United States Senators are Democrats, as well as a majority of the state's U.S. House delegation. Barack Obama defeated John McCain by 17.08% in 2008 and Mitt Romney by 14.87% in 2012.

Primary elections[]

Democratic caucus[]

County results of the Washington Democratic presidential caucus, 2016.

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders bested Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential caucus on March 26, 2016:

The state also held a non-binding presidential primary on May 24, the same date as the state's Republican primary. Hillary Clinton won the preference vote.

Washington Democratic caucuses, March 26, 2016
Candidate	District delegates		Estimated delegates
Candidate	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Bernie Sanders	19,159	72.72%	74	0	74
Hillary Clinton	7,140	27.10%	27	10	37
Others
Uncommitted	46	0.18%	0	7	7
Total	26,345	100%	101	17	118
Source: The Green Papers

Washington Democratic primary, May 24, 2016
Candidate	Popular vote		Estimated delegates
Candidate	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Hillary Clinton	420,461	52.38%	0	0	0
Bernie Sanders	382,293	47.62%	0	0	0
Others
Uncommitted
Total	802,754	100%	0	0	0
Source: Washington Secretary of State - Official Results

Republican primary[]

Four candidates appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot on May 24, 2016:

Ben Carson (withdrawn)
Ted Cruz (withdrawn)
John Kasich (withdrawn)
Donald Trump

Washington Republican primary, May 24, 2016
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Actual delegate count
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Bound	Unbound	Total
Donald Trump	455,023	75.46%	41	0	41
Ted Cruz (withdrawn)	65,172	10.81%	0	0	0
John Kasich (withdrawn)	58,954	9.78%	0	0	0
Ben Carson (withdrawn)	23,849	3.96%	0	0	0
Uncommitted			3	0	3
Unprojected delegates:			0	0	0
Total:	602,998	100.00%	44	0	44
Source: The Green Papers

Green convention[]

This state's Green Party state convention was on May 15. Ballots were emailed to members within a week after the convention.^[2]

Washington Green Party Convention, May 15, 2016.
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	National delegates
Jill Stein	-	91.7	5
William Kreml	-	-	-
Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza Curry	-	-	-
Kent Mesplay	-	-	-
Darryl Cherney	-	-	-
Total	-	-	5

General election[]

Predictions[]

Source	Ranking	As of
Los Angeles Times^[3]	Safe D	November 6, 2016
CNN^[4]	Safe D	November 4, 2016
Cook Political Report^[5]	Safe D	November 7, 2016
Electoral-vote.com^[6]	Safe D	November 8, 2016
Rothenberg Political Report^[7]	Safe D	November 7, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[8]	Safe D	November 7, 2016
RealClearPolitics^[9]	Likely D	November 8, 2016
Fox News^[10]	Safe D	November 7, 2016

Polling[]

Democrat Hillary Clinton won every pre-election poll and all but one by double digits. The average of the final three polls showed Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump 50.3% to 36%.^[11]

State voting history[]

Washington joined the Union in November 1889 and has participated in all elections from 1892 onwards.

Since 1900, Washington voted Democratic 51.72 percent of the time and Republican 44.83 percent of the time. Since 1988, Washington had voted for the Democratic Party in each presidential election, and the same was expected to happen in 2016.^[12]

Results[]

2016 United States presidential election in Washington (state)^[13]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Hillary Clinton	Tim Kaine	1,742,718	52.54%	8
	Republican	Donald Trump	Mike Pence	1,221,747	36.83%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	William Weld	160,879	4.85%	0
	Write-ins			107,805	3.25%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Ajamu Baraka	58,417	1.76%	0
	Constitution	Darrell Castle	Scott Bradley	17,623	0.53%	0
	Socialist Workers	Alyson Kennedy	Osborne Hart	4,307	0.13%	0
	Socialism and Liberation	Gloria La Riva	Eugene Puryear	3,523	0.11%	0
	Republican	Colin Powell		0	0.00%	3
	Independent	Faith Spotted Eagle	Winona LaDuke	0	0.00%	1
Total				3,317,019	100.00%	12

Analysis[]

Hillary Clinton won the election in Washington with 52.5 percent of the vote, a slightly reduced percentage from President Obama in 2012, though due to Trump receiving a significantly smaller percentage than Mitt Romney, Washington was among 11 states where Clinton improved on Obama's margin of victory.^[14] This was the first presidential election in which the Republican Party won Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties since 1928 and 1952 respectively.^[15]^[16] It was also the first time the GOP had won Cowlitz County since Ronald Reagan in 1980, and the first Republican win in Mason County since Reagan in 1984.^[17]

Despite Clinton's victory, four Democratic electors defected. Three voted for Colin Powell, making him the first African-American Republican to receive electoral votes, while a Native American activist cast his vote for Faith Spotted Eagle, making her the first Native American to receive an electoral vote for president.

Powell became the first Republican to receive electoral votes from Washington state since Ronald Reagan in 1984.^[17] However, overall it was the eighth consecutive election in which Washington voted Democratic, and the twelfth in a row in which it voted the same way as neighboring Oregon.

By county[]

County	Clinton%	Clinton#	Trump%	Trump#	Others (excluding write-ins)%	Others (excluding write-ins)#	Total
Adams	28.32%	1,299	67.21%	3,083	5.64%	262	4,644
Asotin	32.59%	3,134	59.70%	5,741	8.84%	861	9,736
Benton	33.26%	26,360	59.55%	47,194	8.09%	6,473	80,027
Chelan	39.34%	13,032	54.68%	18,114	6.69%	2,234	33,380
Clallam	45.19%	17,677	48.04%	18,794	7.57%	2,986	39,457
Clark	46.70%	92,757	46.54%	92,441	7.48%	14,962	200,160
Columbia	24.37%	526	69.37%	1,497	7.29%	159	2,182
Cowlitz	39.60%	17,908	53.48%	24,185	7.88%	3,599	45,692
Douglas	31.89%	4,918	62.28%	9,603	6.58%	1,022	15,543
Ferry	30.94%	1,098	62.05%	2,202	8.36%	301	3,601
Franklin	37.87%	8,886	56.28%	13,206	6.86%	1,628	23,720
Garfield	22.65%	279	69.07%	851	9.31%	116	1,246
Grant	27.89%	7,810	66.12%	18,518	7.12%	2,018	28,346
Grays Harbor	42.78%	12,020	50.06%	14,067	8.04%	2,280	28,367
Island	49.26%	20,960	43.39%	18,465	8.05%	3,451	42,876
Jefferson	62.82%	12,656	29.97%	6,037	7.81%	1,583	20,276
King	72.32%	718,322	21.78%	216,339	6.39%	63,838	998,499
Kitsap	51.28%	63,156	39.80%	49,018	9.77%	12,143	124,317
Kittitas	39.81%	7,489	53.69%	10,100	7.21%	1,366	18,955
Klickitat	39.33%	4,194	54.29%	5,789	7.30%	786	10,769
Lewis	28.54%	9,654	65.02%	21,992	7.33%	2,503	34,149
Lincoln	22.00%	1,244	72.66%	4,108	6.32%	361	5,713
Mason	43.16%	11,993	49.22%	13,677	8.56%	2,403	28,073
Okanogan	37.24%	6,298	56.82%	9,610	6.92%	1,183	17,091
Pacific	43.52%	4,620	50.49%	5,360	6.87%	736	10,716
Pend Oreille	28.74%	1,934	64.99%	4,373	7.28%	495	6,802
Pierce	49.95%	172,538	42.51%	146,824	8.36%	29,123	348,485
San Juan	66.85%	7,172	25.05%	2,688	8.48%	914	10,774
Skagit	48.07%	26,690	44.55%	24,736	8.12%	4,542	55,968
Skamania	39.97%	2,232	52.44%	2,928	8.49%	479	5,639
Snohomish	54.60%	185,227	37.81%	128,255	8.38%	28,691	342,173
Spokane	41.75%	93,767	50.50%	113,435	8.82%	20,044	227,246
Stevens	25.78%	5,767	67.78%	15,161	7.71%	1,749	22,677
Thurston	53.62%	68,798	37.90%	48,624	9.26%	11,988	129,410
Wahkiakum	35.60%	832	57.51%	1,344	7.72%	182	2,358
Walla Walla	38.52%	9,694	54.24%	13,651	8.16%	2,074	25,419
Whatcom	55.47%	60,340	37.32%	40,599	7.96%	8,734	109,673
Whitman	47.66%	8,146	43.31%	7,403	10.15%	1,756	17,305
Yakima	40.61%	31,291	54.16%	41,735	6.08%	4,724	77,750

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican[]

^[18]

Clallam (largest city: Port Angeles)
Cowlitz (largest city: Longview)
Grays Harbor (largest city: Aberdeen)
Mason (largest city: Shelton)
Pacific (largest city: Raymond)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic[]

Whitman (largest city: Pullman)

By congressional district[]

Clinton won 7 of 10 congressional districts including one represented by a Republican.^[19]

District	Trump	Clinton	Representative
1st	38%	54%	Suzan DelBene
2nd	35%	57%	Rick Larsen
3rd	49%	43%	Jaime Herrera Beutler
4th	58%	35%	Dan Newhouse
5th	52%	39%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th	40%	52%	Derek Kilmer
7th	12%	82%	Jim McDermott
7th	12%	82%	Pramila Jayapal
8th	45%	48%	Dave Reichert
9th	23%	71%	Adam Smith
10th	40%	51%	Denny Heck

Notes[]

^ Clinton earned 12 pledged electoral votes, but lost four to faithless electors. Three electors voted for Colin Powell for president and Elizabeth Warren, Maria Cantwell, and Susan Collins for vice president, while Robert Satiacum Jr. voted for Faith Spotted Eagle for president and Winona LaDuke for vice president.

References[]

^ Secretary of State: Kim Wyman. "November 8, 2016 General Election Results". www.sos.wa.gov. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
^ https://www.facebook.com/events/965157636872423/
^ "Our final map has Clinton winning with 352 electoral votes. Compare your picks with ours". Los Angeles Times. 2016-11-06. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
^ Chalian, David (November 4, 2016). "Road to 270: CNN's new election map". CNN. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
^ "2016 Electoral Scorecard". The Cook Political Report. November 7, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
^ "2016 Electoral Map Prediction". Electoral-vote.com. November 8, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
^ "Presidential Ratings". The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
^ Sabato, Larry J. (November 7, 2016). "2016 President". University of Virginia Center for Politics. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
^ "2016 Election Maps - Battle for White House". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
^ "Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge". Fox News. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
^ "RealClearPolitics - Election 2016 - Washington: Trump vs. Clinton". www.realclearpolitics.com. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
^ "Washington Presidential Election 2016 Results LIVE Updates". Archived from the original on 2016-10-13. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
^ Federal Election Commission (December 2017). "Federal Elections 2016" (PDF). p. 43. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
^ "Washington Election Results 2016". The New York Times. 2017-08-01. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
^ "Pacific County November 8, 2016 General Election". results.vote.wa.gov. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
^ Wheel, Robert. "The 2016 Streak Breakers". Center for Politics. Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
^ ^a ^b Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
^ Bump, Philip. "The counties that flipped parties to swing the 2016 election". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
^ Results (PDF). wei.sos.wa.gov (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-06-30.

External links[]

RNC 2016 Republican Nominating Process Archived 2016-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
Green papers for 2016 primaries, caucuses, and conventions

[paul-2] Clinton earned 12 pledged electoral votes, but lost four to faithless electors. Three electors voted for Colin Powell for president and Elizabeth Warren, Maria Cantwell, and Susan Collins for vice president, while Robert Satiacum Jr. voted for Faith Spotted Eagle for president and Winona LaDuke for vice president.

[1] Secretary of State: Kim Wyman. "November 8, 2016 General Election Results". www.sos.wa.gov. Retrieved 2019-06-09.

[3] ttps://www.facebook.com/events/965157636872423/

[4] "Our final map has Clinton winning with 352 electoral votes. Compare your picks with ours". Los Angeles Times. 2016-11-06. Retrieved 2016-11-13.

[5] Chalian, David (November 4, 2016). "Road to 270: CNN's new election map". CNN. Retrieved March 3, 2019.

[6] "2016 Electoral Scorecard". The Cook Political Report. November 7, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2019.

[7] "2016 Electoral Map Prediction". Electoral-vote.com. November 8, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2019.

[8] "Presidential Ratings". The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved August 16, 2021.

[9] Sabato, Larry J. (November 7, 2016). "2016 President". University of Virginia Center for Politics. Retrieved March 3, 2019.

[10] "2016 Election Maps - Battle for White House". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved 2016-11-13.

[11] "Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge". Fox News. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2016-11-13.

[12] "RealClearPolitics - Election 2016 - Washington: Trump vs. Clinton". www.realclearpolitics.com. Retrieved 2021-07-26.

[13] "Washington Presidential Election 2016 Results LIVE Updates". Archived from the original on 2016-10-13. Retrieved 2016-10-13.

[14] Federal Election Commission (December 2017). "Federal Elections 2016" (PDF). p. 43. Retrieved 8 December 2021.

[15] "Washington Election Results 2016". The New York Times. 2017-08-01. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-06-09.

[16] "Pacific County November 8, 2016 General Election". results.vote.wa.gov. Retrieved 2021-07-26.

[17] Wheel, Robert. "The 2016 Streak Breakers". Center for Politics. Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball. Retrieved 13 November 2016.

[how-18] Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016

[19] Bump, Philip. "The counties that flipped parties to swing the 2016 election". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-09-01.

[20] Results (PDF). wei.sos.wa.gov (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-06-30.

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