2020 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

The 2020 United States presidential election in Washington was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia participated.[2] Washington voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. Washington has 12 electoral votes in the Electoral College.[3]

2020 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

November 3, 2020
Turnout	75.2% (of eligible voters)[1]
Nominee Joe Biden Donald Trump Party Democratic Republican Home state Delaware Florida Running mate Kamala Harris Mike Pence Electoral vote 12 0 Popular vote 2,369,612 1,584,651 Percentage 57.97% 38.77%
County Results Biden   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% Trump   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%
President before election Donald Trump Republican Elected President Joe Biden Democratic

Biden won the state by almost 20 points, the largest winning margin for a presidential candidate of any party since 1964. He also flipped the swing county of Clallam, which now holds the record for having voted for the winning presidential candidate since 1980.[4]

The Seattle area, home to almost two-thirds of the state's population, is overwhelmingly Democratic. However, Trump won a considerable majority in outlying communities, garnering over 70% of the vote in rural counties such as Columbia. Eastern Washington is very rural and leans Republican, partly due to the strong tinge of social conservatism it shares with neighboring Idaho, a GOP stronghold. That said, Biden was able to improve on Clinton's margin in Whitman County--anchored by the college town of Pullman--increasing it from 4.1% in 2016 to 10.2% in 2020, the best performance for a Democrat in the county since 1936. In addition, he narrowed Trump's margin in Spokane County from 8.4% to 4.3%.

Per exit polls by the Associated Press, Biden's strength in Washington came from 59% among progressive white voters and 79% among Asian-Americans. 34% of voters were secular and supported Biden by 78%.[5] Biden also became the first Democrat since Washington's admission into the union to win the presidency without winning Mason County, and the first since Woodrow Wilson to prevail without winning Grays Harbor County and Pacific County.

Primary elections

The primaries for the major parties were on March 10, 2020. On March 14, 2019, Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill moving the state's presidential primary up from May to the second Tuesday in March.[6]

Republican primary

Donald Trump, Bill Weld, Joe Walsh, and Rocky de la Fuente had declared their candidacy for the Republican Party, but only Trump met all of the state party's criteria by the official deadline of January 21, 2020 for being included on the ballot.[7] Thus Trump essentially ran unopposed in the Republican primary, and thus he received all of Washington's 43 delegates to the 2020 Republican National Convention.[8]

2020 Washington Republican primary[9]

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates[10]
Donald Trump	684,239	98.41	43
Write-ins	11,036	1.59	0
Total	695,275	100%	43

Democratic primary

A number of Democratic Party candidates ran or expressed interest in running.[11][12][13] Additionally, Seattle-based billionaire Howard Schultz announced a potential bid as an independent in early 2019, but backed out in September of that year.[14] The party's candidates included on the ballot at the deadline were Michael Bennet, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Deval Patrick, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang.[7]

Popular vote share by county

Map legend

•   Biden—30–40%
•   Biden—40–50%
•   Sanders—30–40%
•   Sanders—40–50%

2020 Washington Democratic presidential primary[15]

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates[16]
Joe Biden	591,403	37.94	46
Bernie Sanders	570,039	36.57	43
Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn†)	142,652	9.15
Michael Bloomberg (withdrawn†)	122,530	7.86
Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn†)	63,344	4.06
Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn†)	33,383	2.14
Tulsi Gabbard	13,199	0.85
Andrew Yang (withdrawn)	6,403	0.41
Tom Steyer (withdrawn†)	3,455	0.22
Michael Bennet (withdrawn)	2,044	0.13
Cory Booker (withdrawn)	1,314	0.08
John Delaney (withdrawn)	573	0.04
Deval Patrick (withdrawn)	508	0.03
Uncommitted	6,450	0.41
Total write-ins	1,479	0.09
Total	1,558,776	100%	89

†Candidate withdrew after the start of mail-in voting.

Green primary

As a minor party, Washington State's Green Party affiliate is excluded from the publicly funded Presidential Primary in Washington State. The Green Party of Washington facilitated its primary by a mail-in ballot to its members after its Spring Convention on May 23.[17] (deadline was June 13).

All candidates recognized by the Green Party of the United States by April 23 were on the ballot, plus a write-in option:

• Howie Hawkins
• Dario Hunter
• David Rolde

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[18]	Solid D	November 3, 2020
Inside Elections[19]	Solid D	November 3, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball[20]	Safe D	November 3, 2020
Politico[21]	Solid D	November 3, 2020
RCP[22]	Likely D	November 3, 2020
Niskanen[23]	Safe D	November 3, 2020
CNN[24]	Solid D	November 3, 2020
The Economist[25]	Safe D	November 3, 2020
CBS News[26]	Likely D	November 3, 2020
270towin[27]	Safe D	November 3, 2020
ABC News[28]	Solid D	November 3, 2020
NPR[29]	Likely D	November 3, 2020
NBC News[30]	Solid D	November 3, 2020
538[31]	Solid D	November 3, 2020

Graphical summary

Aggregate polls

Source of poll aggregation	Dates administered	Dates updated	Joe Biden Democratic	Donald Trump Republican	Other/ Undecided [lower-alpha 1]	Margin
270 to Win	October 8–15, 2020	October 27, 2020	57.5%	35.5%	7.0%	Biden +22.0
FiveThirtyEight	until October 25, 2020	October 27, 2020	58.8%	35.5%	5.7%	Biden +23.3
Average			58.2%	35.5%	6.3%	Biden +22.7

Polls

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[lower-alpha 2]	Margin of error	Donald Trump Republican	Joe Biden Democratic	Jo Jorgensen Libertarian	Howie Hawkins Green	Other	Undecided
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Oct 20 – Nov 2, 2020	4,142 (LV)	± 2%	35%[lower-alpha 3]	62%	-	-	–	–
Swayable	Oct 23 – Nov 1, 2020	489 (LV)	± 6%	39%	59%	2%	1%	–	–
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Oct 1–28, 2020	7,424 (LV)	–	36%	62%	-	-	–	–
PPP/NPI	Oct 14–15, 2020	610 (LV)	± 4%	37%	60%	-	-	–	2%
SurveyUSA/KING-TV	Oct 8–10, 2020	591 (LV)	± 5.2%	34%	55%	-	-	5%[lower-alpha 4]	5%
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Sep 1–30, 2020	7,953 (LV)	–	35%	64%	-	-	–	2%
Strategies 360	Sep 8–14, 2020	501 (RV)	± 4.4%	36%	58%	-	-	–	7%[lower-alpha 5]
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Aug 1–31, 2020	7,489 (LV)	–	37%	61%	-	-	–	2%
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Jul 1–31, 2020	7,691 (LV)	–	37%	62%	-	-	–	2%
SurveyUSA/KING-TV	Jul 22–27, 2020	534 (LV)	± 5.2%	28%	62%	-	-	6%[lower-alpha 6]	–
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Jun 8–30, 2020	3,939 (LV)	–	36%	62%	-	-	–	2%
Public Policy Polling/NPI	May 19–20, 2020	1,070 (LV)	± 3%	37%	59%	-	-	–	5%
SurveyUSA/KING-TV	May 16–19, 2020	530 (LV)	± 5.5%	31%	57%	-	-	5%[lower-alpha 7]	7%
EMC Research	Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2020	583 (A)	± 4.1%	39%	52%	-	-	–	9%
SurveyUSA/KING-TV	Mar 4–6, 2020	992 (RV)	± 3.8%	34%	57%	-	-	–	9%
Public Policy Polling/The Cascadia Advocate	Oct 22–23, 2019	900 (LV)	± 3.3%	37%	59%	-	-	–	3%
Zogby Interactive/JZ Analytics	Jul 22 – Aug 1, 2019	1,265 (LV)	± 2.8%	31%	52%	-	-	–	17%

Former candidates

Donald Trump vs. Pete Buttigieg Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size[lower-alpha 2] Margin of error Donald Trump (R) Pete Buttigieg (D) Undecided Zogby Interactive/JZ Analytics Jul 22 – Aug 1, 2019 1,265 (LV) ± 2.8% 32% 44% 24% with Donald Trump and Kamala Harris Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size[lower-alpha 2] Margin of error Donald Trump (R) Kamala Harris (D) Undecided Zogby Interactive/JZ Analytics Jul 22 – Aug 1, 2019 1,265 (LV) ± 2.8% 33% 47% 20% Donald Trump vs. Bernie Sanders Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size[lower-alpha 2] Margin of error Donald Trump (R) Bernie Sanders (D) Undecided SurveyUSA/KING-TV Mar 4–6, 2020 992 (RV) ± 3.8% 35% 56% 9% Public Policy Polling/The Cascadia Advocate Oct 22–23, 2019 900 (LV) ± 3.3% 37% 58% 6% Zogby Interactive/JZ Analytics Jul 22 – Aug 1, 2019 1,265 (LV) ± 2.8% 32% 54% 14% Donald Trump vs. Elizabeth Warren Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size[lower-alpha 2] Margin of error Donald Trump (R) Elizabeth Warren (D) Undecided SurveyUSA/KING-TV Mar 4–6, 2020 992 (RV) ± 3.8% 38% 52% 10% Public Policy Polling/The Cascadia Advocate Oct 22–23, 2019 900 (LV) ± 3.3% 37% 60% 3% Zogby Interactive/JZ Analytics Jul 22 – Aug 1, 2019 1,265 (LV) ± 2.8% 33% 48% 20%

Hypothetical polling
with Donald Trump and Generic Democrat Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size[lower-alpha 2] Margin of error Donald Trump (R) Generic Democrat Undecided Public Policy Polling May 21–22, 2019 886 (LV) ± 3.3% 34% 59% 7%

Electoral slates

These slates of electors were nominated by each party in order to vote in the Electoral College should their candidate win the state:[32]

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Democratic Party	Donald Trump and Mike Pence Republican Party	Jo Jorgensen and Spike Cohen Libertarian Party	Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker Green Party	Gloria La Riva and Sunil Freeman Party for Socialism and Liberation	Alyson Kennedy and Malcolm Jarrett Socialist Workers Party
Martin Chaney Jack Arends Jackie Lane Patsy Whitefoot Nancy Monacelli Julie Johnson Sophia Danenberg Jen Carter Bryan Kesterson Julian Wheeler Santiago Ramos Payton Swinford	Eric Rohrbach Timothy Hazelo Ronald Averill Richard Bilskis Dan Wallace Elizabeth Kreiselmaier Craig Keller Tamara Flaherty Timothy Tow Colleen Wise Arthur Coday Sandi Peterson	Nathan Deily Miguel Duque Nicholas Coelho Larry Nicholas Data Logan Whitney Davis Ciaran Dougherty Steve Hansen Larry Hovde Will Leonard Randy McGlenn Anna Johnson	Jody Thorsen Grage Cynthia J. Sellers Margaret J. Elisabeth Stonewall Bird Scott Charles Thompson Bruce Radtke Charles Law Richard A. Redick Frank Lockwood Noah Martin Colin Bartlett Daniel Bumbarger	Jane N. Cutter Andrew T. Freeman Emily Forschmiedt Sean Connolly Jacob Nasrallah Gregory Plancich Ryan Oliveira Nicolas Boone Mitchell Malloy Mario Carbonell Eric Buerk Charles A Susat	Michele Ann Smith Patricia Ann Scott Sara Jane Gates Keith Bryan Smith Mary Juanita Martin Edwin B. Fruit Scott A. Breen Barbara Anne Kline Rashaad Ali Robert Bruneau Dean Denno Leah Beth Finger

Results

2020 United States presidential election in Washington[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Joe Biden Kamala Harris	2,369,612	57.97%	+5.43%
	Republican	Donald Trump Mike Pence	1,584,651	38.77%	+1.94%
	Libertarian	Jo Jorgensen Spike Cohen	80,500	1.97%	-2.88%
	Green	Howie Hawkins Angela Walker	18,289	0.45%	-1.31%
	Socialism and Liberation	Gloria La Riva Sunil Freeman	4,840	0.12%	+0.01%
	Socialist Workers	Alyson Kennedy Malcolm Jarrett	2,487	0.06%	-0.07%
	Write-in		27,252	0.67%	-2.58%
Total votes			4,087,631	100.00%	N/A

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Clallam County (largest municipality: Port Angeles)

By congressional district

Biden won 7 of 10 congressional districts with the remaining 3 going to Trump.[34]

District	Trump	Biden	Representative
1st	38%	59%	Suzan DelBene
2nd	35%	62%	Rick Larsen
3rd	50%	47%	Jaime Herrera Beutler
4th	58%	39%	Dan Newhouse
5th	53%	44%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th	39%	57%	Derek Kilmer
7th	12%	85%	Pramila Jayapal
8th	45%	52%	Kim Schrier
9th	24%	73%	Adam Smith
10th	40%	56%	Denny Heck
			Marilyn Strickland

See also

• United States presidential elections in Washington
• 2020 United States presidential election
• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• 2020 Republican Party presidential primaries
• 2020 United States elections

Notes

1. Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.
2. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
3. Overlapping sample with the previous SurveyMonkey/Axios poll, but more information available regarding sample size
4. "Another candidate" with 5%
5. Includes "Refused"
6. "Another candidate" with 6%
7. "A candidate from another party" with 5%

References

1. "Turnout soared in 2020 as nearly two-thirds of eligible U.S. voters cast ballots for president".
2. Kelly, Ben (August 13, 2018). "US elections key dates: When are the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential campaign?". The Independent. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
3. "Distribution of Electoral Votes". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
4. Farley, Josh (November 7, 2020). "What does Clallam County know? Voters just chose a winner for the tenth straight election". Kitsap Sun. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
5. "Washington Voter Surveys: How Different Groups Voted". The New York Times. November 3, 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
6. "Gov. Inslee signs bill moving presidential primary up to March". KING. Associated Press. March 14, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
7. "Washington presidential primary ballot is set, even as Democratic field remains in flux". The Spokesman-Review. January 23, 2020.
8. "Washington Republican Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
9. "March 10, 2020 Presidential Primary Results – Statewide Results". Washington Secretary of State. Washington Secretary of State. March 27, 2020. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
10. "Washington Republican Primary Results". USA Today. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
11. Taylor, Kate (February 9, 2019). "Elizabeth Warren Formally Announces 2020 Presidential Bid in Lawrence, Mass". The New York Times. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
12. Zhou, Li (January 21, 2019). "Kamala Harris announces her historic 2020 presidential campaign". Vox. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
13. Detrow, Scott (February 1, 2019). "Cory Booker Makes It Official: He's Running For President In 2020". NPR. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
14. Emily Birnbaum (January 27, 2019). "Howard Schultz makes Twitter debut amid 2020 speculation". The Hill. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
15. "March 10, 2020 Presidential Primary Results – Statewide Results". Washington Secretary of State. Washington Secretary of State. March 27, 2020. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
16. "Associated Press Election Services - Delegate Tracker". Associated Press. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
17. "Green Party Presidential Primary". March 23, 2020.
18. "2020 POTUS Race ratings" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
19. "POTUS Ratings | Inside Elections". insideelections.com. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
20. "Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » 2020 President". crystalball.centerforpolitics.org. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
21. "2020 Election Forecast". Politico. November 19, 2019.
22. "Battle for White House". RCP. April 19, 2019.
23. 2020 Bitecofer Model Electoral College Predictions, Niskanen Center, March 24, 2020, retrieved: April 19, 2020
24. David Chalian; Terence Burlij. "Road to 270: CNN's debut Electoral College map for 2020". CNN. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
25. "Forecasting the US elections". The Economist. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
26. "2020 Election Battleground Tracker". CBS News. July 12, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
27. "2020 Presidential Election Interactive Map". 270 to Win.
28. "ABC News Race Ratings". CBS News. July 24, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
29. "2020 Electoral Map Ratings: Trump Slides, Biden Advantage Expands Over 270 Votes". NPR.org. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
30. "Biden dominates the electoral map, but here's how the race could tighten". NBC News. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
31. "2020 Election Forecast". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
32. "2020 Electoral College Electors". Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
33. "November 3, 2020 General Election Results". Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
34. Results. sos.wa.gov (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 24, 2020.

External links

• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Washington", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "Washington: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
• "League of Women Voters of Washington". (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• Washington at Ballotpedia