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Washington gubernatorial election, 2020

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Governor of Washington
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Top-two primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: May 15, 2020
Primary: August 4, 2020
General: November 3, 2020
Pre-election incumbent(s):
Gov. Jay Inslee (D)
How to vote
Poll times: Poll opening hours vary; close at 8 p.m. (most voting done by mail)
Voting in Washington
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
Federal and state primary competitiveness
State executive elections in 2020
Impact of term limits in 2020
State government trifectas
State government triplexes
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
Washington
executive elections
Governor

Lieutenant Governor
Attorney General
Secretary of State
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Commissioner of Public Lands
Treasurer
Auditor
Commissioner of Insurance

Washington held an election for governor on November 3, 2020. A primary was scheduled for August 4, 2020. The filing deadline was May 15, 2020.

Incumbent Jay Inslee (D) and Loren Culp (R) won the August 4 top-two primary with 50% and 17% of the vote, respectively.

Incumbent Jay Inslee won election in the general election for Governor of Washington.

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

Washington did not modify any procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.

Candidates and results

General election candidates

Primary candidates


Did not make the ballot:

Candidate Connection = candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for gubernatorial candidates in Washington in the 2020 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Washington, click here.

Filing requirements for gubernatorial candidates, 2020
State Office Party Signatures required Signature formula Filing fee Filing fee formula Filing deadline Source
Washington Governor All candidates N/A N/A $1,821.79 1% of annual salary 5/15/2020 Source

Past elections

2016

See also: Washington gubernatorial election, 2016

General election

Incumbent Jay Inslee defeated Bill Bryant in the Washington governor election.

Washington Governor, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Jay Inslee Incumbent 54.24% 1,760,520
     Republican Bill Bryant 45.49% 1,476,346
Write-in votes 0.26% 8,416
Total Votes 3,245,282
Source: Washington Secretary of State

Primary election

Note: Washington utilizes a mail-in ballot system. Results were not finalized until 14 days after the primary election.[2]

The following candidates ran in the Washington primary for governor.

Washington primary for governor, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Jay Inslee Incumbent 49.30% 687,412
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Bill Bryant 38.33% 534,519
     Republican Bill Hirt 3.47% 48,382
     Democratic Patrick O'Rourke 2.91% 40,572
     Independent Steve Rubenstein 1.62% 22,582
     Democratic James Robert Deal 1.05% 14,623
     Democratic Johnathan Dodds 1.01% 14,152
     Republican Goodspaceguy 0.95% 13,191
     Socialist Workers Party Mary Martin 0.74% 10,374
     Fifth Republic Party David Blomstrom 0.32% 4,512
     Holistic Party Christian Joubert 0.29% 4,103
Total Votes 1,394,422
Source: Washington Secretary of State

2012

Christine Gregoire (D) did not run for re-election in 2012. Jay Inslee (D) narrowly defeated Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna in the general election on November 6, 2012.[3]

Governor of Washington General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngJay Inslee 51.4% 1,582,802
     Republican Rob McKenna 48.3% 1,488,245
     Other Write-in votes 0.3% 8,592
Total Votes 3,079,639
Election results via Washington Secretary of State



About the office

Governor

Main article: Governor of Washington

The governor of the state of Washington is an elected constitutional officer, the head of the executive branch, and the highest state office in Washington. The governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and has no term limit. The 23rd and current governor is Jay Inslee, a Democrat elected in 2012. He succeeded Christine Gregoire (D) on January 16, 2013.

See also: Washington State Legislature, Washington House of Representatives, Washington State Senate

State profile

Demographic data for Washington
 WashingtonU.S.
Total population:7,160,290316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):66,4563,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:77.8%73.6%
Black/African American:3.6%12.6%
Asian:7.7%5.1%
Native American:1.3%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0.6%0.2%
Two or more:5.2%3%
Hispanic/Latino:12%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:90.4%86.7%
College graduation rate:32.9%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$61,062$53,889
Persons below poverty level:14.4%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Washington.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Washington

Washington voted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, five are located in Washington, accounting for 2.43 percent of the total pivot counties.[4]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Washington had four Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 2.21 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Washington coverage on Ballotpedia

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

Five of 39 Washington counties—12.8 percent—are Pivot Counties. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County Trump margin of victory in 2016 Obama margin of victory in 2012 Obama margin of victory in 2008
Clallam County, Washington 2.76% 0.38% 3.30%
Cowlitz County, Washington 13.32% 4.44% 11.15%
Grays Harbor County, Washington 6.99% 14.11% 14.56%
Mason County, Washington 5.81% 7.09% 8.66%
Pacific County, Washington 6.74% 11.52% 14.07%

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton (D) won Washington with 52.5 percent of the vote. Donald Trump (R) received 36.8 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Washington cast votes for the winning presidential candidate 73.3 percent of the time. In that same time frame, Washington supported Democratic candidates for president more often than Republican candidates, 53.3 to 43.3 percent. The state favored Democrats in every election between 2000 and 2016.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in Washington. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[5][6]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 34 out of 49 state House districts in Washington with an average margin of victory of 25.4 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 30 out of 49 state House districts in Washington with an average margin of victory of 32.1 points.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 15 out of 49 state House districts in Washington with an average margin of victory of 13.9 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 19 out of 49 state House districts in Washington with an average margin of victory of 14.9 points.


Voter guides

2020 State Cannabis Voter Guides

See also

Washington government:

Previous elections:

Ballotpedia exclusives:

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Washington is a vote-by-mail state. Early voting dates and polling hours apply to county-level vote centers where individuals can instead vote in person.
  2. ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Frequently Asked Questions on Voting by Mail," accessed August 2, 2016
  3. ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "August 7, 2012 Primary Results: State executives," accessed August 8, 2012
  4. ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
  5. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts," July 9, 2013
  6. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017
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