How Washington has voted since 1960
Washington has 12 electoral votes in 2028. Since 1960 it has voted Democratic 12 times and Republican 5 times. It has backed the national winner in 9 of 17 elections. Kamala Harris carried it in 2024 by 18.2 points, 19.7 points more Democratic than the nation. In 2024, 70.2% of its eligible voters cast a ballot, ranking 13th among the 50 states and DC (nationally, 64.3%). It has voted Democratic in every election since 1988. Its closest result was in 1988, when Michael Dukakis won it by 1.6 points.
- 1960Nixon+2.4
- 1964Johnson+24.6
- 1968Humphrey+2.1
- 1972Nixon+18.3
- 1976Ford+3.9
- 1980Reagan+12.3
- 1984Reagan+13.5
- 1988Dukakis+1.6
- 1992Clinton+11.4
- 1996Clinton+12.5
- 2000Gore+5.6
- 2004Kerry+7.2
- 2008Obama+17.2
- 2012Obama+14.9
- 2016Clinton+15.7
- 2020Biden+19.2
- 2024Harris+18.2
Each box is one election: the winner in Washington and the margin in points. Darker boxes were won by 10 points or more, lighter by under 5.
Election night
11 p.m. ET
Polls close at 11 p.m. ET (8 p.m. Pacific).
Also closing at 11 p.m. ET: CA, OR.
Times from the 2024 general election; states rarely change them, and they will be confirmed for 2028.
2028 ratings
- Safe D Electoral Vote Map Sept. 28, 2026
In Congress
Senate
- Patty Murray (D) since 1993
- Maria Cantwell (D) since 2001
House: 8 Democrats, 2 Republicans
All 10 members
- 1 Suzan K. DelBene (D)
- 2 Rick Larsen (D)
- 3 Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D)
- 4 Dan Newhouse (R)
- 5 Michael Baumgartner (R)
- 6 Emily Randall (D)
- 7 Pramila Jayapal (D)
- 8 Kim Schrier (D)
- 9 Adam Smith (D)
- 10 Marilyn Strickland (D)
From Congress.gov, as of Sept. 28, 2026. Vacant seats are not listed.
Margin by election
Washington margin National popular vote
By county
Donald Trump won 26 of Washington's 39 counties in 2024; Kamala Harris won 13.
Loading the county map…
Largest counties, 2024
| County | Votes | Margin | Shift from 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| King County | 1,130,502 | D+51.3 | →R 1.4 |
| Pierce County | 439,581 | D+10.7 | →R 0.5 |
| Snohomish County | 418,221 | D+18.8 | →R 1.8 |
| Spokane County | 287,082 | R+4.9 | →R 0.6 |
| Clark County | 276,578 | D+6.9 | →D 1.9 |
| Thurston County | 164,537 | D+20.3 | →D 1.7 |
| Kitsap County | 156,872 | D+20.8 | →D 2.7 |
| Whatcom County | 137,868 | D+24.7 | →D 0.8 |
| Benton County | 100,693 | R+21.7 | →R 0.7 |
| Yakima County | 88,751 | R+14.3 | →R 6.6 |
Biggest shifts from 2020 to 2024: toward the Republican, Franklin County (8.1), Adams County (7.4), Yakima County (6.6); toward the Democrat, Clallam County (4.5), Island County (4.5), Jefferson County (3.6) — in points of margin.
County returns from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab (official state data), 2000–2024. Margin is the Democrat's share minus the Republican's, of all votes cast.
Results by year
| Year | Winner | Democrat | Republican | Other | Margin | Nation | Turnout | EV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Kamala HarrisHarris lost | Harris 57.2%2,245,849 | Trump 39.0%1,530,923 | 3.8% | D+18.2 | R+1.5 | 70.2% | 12 |
| 2020 | Joe BidenBiden | Biden 58.0%2,369,612 | Trump 38.8%1,584,651 | 3.3% | D+19.2 | D+4.5 | 75.3% | 12 |
| 2016 | Hillary ClintonClinton lost | Clinton 52.5%1,742,718 | Trump 36.8%1,221,747 | 10.6% | D+15.7 | D+2.1 | 65.6% | 12* |
| 2012 | Barack ObamaObama | Obama 56.2%1,755,396 | Romney 41.3%1,290,670 | 2.6% | D+14.9 | D+3.9 | 65.8% | 12 |
| 2008 | Barack ObamaObama | Obama 57.7%1,750,848 | McCain 40.5%1,229,216 | 1.9% | D+17.2 | D+7.3 | 67.4% | 11 |
| 2004 | John KerryKerry lost | Kerry 52.8%1,510,201 | Bush 45.6%1,304,894 | 1.5% | D+7.2 | R+2.5 | 67.7% | 11 |
| 2000 | Al GoreGore lost | Gore 50.2%1,247,652 | Bush 44.6%1,108,864 | 5.3% | D+5.6 | D+0.5 | 62.6% | 11 |
| 1996 | Bill ClintonClinton | Clinton 49.8%1,123,323 | Dole 37.3%840,712 | Perot 8.9% | D+12.5 | D+8.5 | 59.9% | 11 |
| 1992 | Bill ClintonClinton | Clinton 43.4%993,037 | Bush 32.0%731,234 | Perot 23.7% | D+11.4 | D+5.6 | 65.0% | 11 |
| 1988 | Michael DukakisDukakis lost | Dukakis 50.1%933,516 | Bush 48.5%903,835 | 1.5% | D+1.6 | R+7.7 | 58.6% | 10 |
| 1984 | Ronald ReaganReagan | Mondale 42.6%798,352 | Reagan 56.1%1,051,670 | 1.3% | R+13.5 | R+18.2 | 62.9% | 10 |
| 1980 | Ronald ReaganReagan | Carter 37.3%650,193 | Reagan 49.7%865,244 | Anderson 10.6% | R+12.3 | R+9.7 | 60.6% | 9 |
| 1976 | Gerald FordFord lost | Carter 46.1%717,323 | Ford 50.0%777,732 | 3.9% | R+3.9 | D+2.1 | — | 9* |
| 1972 | Richard NixonNixon | McGovern 38.6% | Nixon 56.9% | 4.4% | R+18.3 | R+23.2 | — | 9 |
| 1968 | Hubert HumphreyHumphrey lost | Humphrey 47.2% | Nixon 45.1% | Wallace 7.4% | D+2.1 | R+0.7 | — | 9 |
| 1964 | Lyndon B. JohnsonJohnson | Johnson 62.0% | Goldwater 37.4% | 0.7% | D+24.6 | D+22.6 | — | 9 |
| 1960 | Richard NixonNixon lost | Kennedy 48.3% | Nixon 50.7% | 1.1% | R+2.4 | D+0.2 | — | 9 |
Margin is the Democrat's share minus the Republican's, in percentage points; Nation is the same for the national popular vote. "Other" is everyone else combined, or the leading third-party candidate where one took 5% or more. Vote counts from 1976. Turnout is ballots cast as a share of eligible voters, from 1980 (UF Election Lab; the newest year is preliminary).
- 2016: Four Democratic electors defected: three voted for Colin Powell and one for Faith Spotted Eagle.
- 1976: One Republican elector, Mike Padden, voted for Ronald Reagan instead of Ford.
Electoral votes
Electoral votes change after each census, when House seats are reapportioned.
- 919601950 census
- 91964–19681960 census
- 91972–19801970 census
- 101984–19881980 census
- 111992–20001990 census
- 112004–20082000 census
- 122012–20202010 census
- 122024–20282020 census
- 122032–2040projected
Projected: Washington's share of House seats after the 2030 census if each state's population keeps changing at its pace since 2020, from the Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey population estimates (July 1, 2024). If the count were taken today it would have 12. An estimate, not a forecast.
Before 1960
Washington cast electoral votes in 17 presidential elections before 1960, the first in 1892. It backed the eventual president in 14 of them.
| Year | Carried by | Electors | Margin | Backed winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican | 9 | +8.5 | ✓ |
| 1952 | Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican | 9 | +9.7 | ✓ |
| 1948 | Harry S. Truman Democratic | 8 | +10.4 | ✓ |
| 1944 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic | 8 | +14.7 | ✓ |
| 1940 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic | 8 | +17.9 | ✓ |
| 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic | 8 | +37.9 | ✓ |
| 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic | 8 | +25.7 | ✓ |
| 1928 | Herbert Hoover Republican | 7 | +36.4 | ✓ |
| 1924 | Calvin Coolidge Republican | 7 | +16.8 | ✓ |
| 1920 | Warren G. Harding Republican | 7 | +45.2 | ✓ |
| 1916 | Woodrow Wilson Democratic | 7 | +4.6 | ✓ |
| 1912 | Theodore Roosevelt Progressive | 7 | +8.6 | – |
| 1908 | William Howard Taft Republican | 5 | +29.0 | ✓ |
| 1904 | Theodore Roosevelt Republican | 5 | +56.7 | ✓ |
| 1900 | William McKinley Republican | 4 | +12.3 | ✓ |
| 1896 | William Jennings Bryan Democratic-Populist | 4 | +13.8 | – |
| 1892 | Benjamin Harrison Republican | 4 | +7.8 | – |
Margin: the winner's lead over the runner-up in the state's popular vote, in points. A dash means the legislature chose the electors (common before the 1830s) or no popular vote is on record. Each year links to that election's map and full results.