United States presidential election in Washington, 2008

The 2008 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 4, 2008 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Washington was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama by a 17.1% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. No Republican presidential nominee has won the State of Washington in 20 years. Continuing on that trend, Washington stayed in the Democratic column as Obama carried the state with over 57% of the vote.

Caucuses

• Washington Democratic caucuses, 2008
• Washington Republican caucuses, 2008

Campaign

Predictions

There were 17 news organizations who made state by state predictions of the election. Here are there last predictions before election day:

1. D.C. Political Report: Democrat^[1]
2. Cook Political Report: Solid Democrat^[2]
3. Takeaway: Solid Obama^[3]
4. Election Projection: Solid Obama^[4]
5. Electoral-vote.com: Strong Democrat^[5]
6. Washington Post: Solid Obama^[6]
7. Politico: Solid Obama^[7]
8. Real Clear Politics: Solid Obama^[8]
9. FiveThirtyEight.com: Solid Obama^[9]
10. CQ Politics: Safe Democrat^[10]
11. New York Times: Solid Democrat^[11]
12. CNN: Safe Democrat^[12]
13. NPR: Solid Obama^[13]
14. MSNBC: Solid Obama^[14]
15. Fox News: Democrat^[15]
16. Associated Press: Democrat^[16]
17. Rasmussen Reports: Safe Democrat^[17]

Polling

Since February 28, Obama won every pre-election poll. Since September 22, he won each poll with a double digit margin of victory. The final 3 polls averaged Obama leading 54% to 40%.

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $2,697,999 in the state. Barack Obama raised $16,518,208.^[18]

Advertising and visits

Obama and his interest groups spent $312,869. McCain and his interest groups spent just $2,264.^[19] The Democratic ticket visited the state once, while the Republican ticket didn't visit at all.^[20]

Analysis

Washington once leaned Republican, like most of the Pacific Northwest. From 1952 to 1984, it only went Democratic twice--in 1968 and 1964. However, it has voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in every presidential election since 1988. Neither candidate seriously contested the state as it was viewed as a safe blue state. Like Oregon, the state is divided politically by the urban/rural divide and geographically by the Cascade Mountains. The two are related in that nearly all of the major cities lie west of the Cascades. Most of the state's population resides in Western Washington along the Pacific Coast and in highly urbanized areas like Seattle. The Seattle area, home to almost two-thirds of the state's population, is overwhelmingly Democratic. The rest of Western Washington leans Democratic as well, though the lean is not as pronounced as in the greater Seattle area. The other side of the mountains in Eastern Washington is much more rural and conservative and therefore heavily Republican.

On Election Day, Obama won the state by 17.08%. He swept the more urban counties along the Western Seaboard, which compose the Democratic base. More than two-thirds of the state's population lives in this area; this makes it very difficult for a Republican to win the state because of this region's liberal tilt. Obama would have been assured a victory in any event due to his performance in King County home to Seattle itself and its close suburbs and just over a third of the state's population. King County cast 69.97 percent of its vote for Obama, and accounted for almost three-fifths of his statewide majority. Obama also swept the two other big counties in Western Washington, Pierce (home to Tacoma) and Snohomish (home to Everett by decisive margins. His combined majority in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties would have been more than enough to carry the state.

On the other hand, McCain did extremely well in Eastern Washington, which is far more conservative and culturally closer to Idaho than Seattle. Neither Al Gore or John Kerry was able to take a single county in Eastern Washington; in 2008, Obama only won one small county, Whitman County, home to Washington State University in Pullman. Nevertheless, as with Oregon, McCain's margins in the eastern part of the state were far outweighed by Obama's landslides in the more populated coastal regions and cities in the western part of the state. Obama did, however, improve substantially in Eastern Washington, especially in the region's largest county, Spokane County, home to the city of Spokane.

During the same election, incumbent Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire was reelected to a second term with 53.72% of the vote over Republican Dino Rossi who took in 46.28%. At the state level, Democrats picked up one seat in the Washington House of Representatives while Republicans picked up a seat in the Washington Senate.

Results

Results breakdown

By county

By congressional district

Barack Obama carried seven of the state’s nine congressional districts, including one district held by a Republican.

Electors

Technically the voters of Washington cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Washington is allocated 11 electors because it has 9 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 11 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 11 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for President and Vice President. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.^[21] An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008 to cast their votes for President and Vice President. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 11 were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:^[22]

1. Jeff Siddiqui^[23]
2. Maggie Hanson
3. Jane Buchanan‐Banks
4. Pat M. Notter
5. Marcus Riccelli^[24]
6. Bradford Donovan
7. Lesley Ahmed^[25]
8. Di A. Irons ^[26]
9. Calvin Edwards
10. Kristine Fallstone
11. John Daniels

References

Official Washington Presidential election results

See also