2008 Washington gubernatorial election

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2008 Washington gubernatorial election
Flag of Washington.svg
  2004 November 4, 2008 2012  
  ChristineGregoireOfficial (cropped).jpg Dino Rossi (cropped).jpg
Candidate Christine Gregoire Dino Rossi
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote1,598,7381,404,124
Percentage53.24%46.76%

2008 Washington gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
2008 Washington gubernatorial election by congressional district.svg
2008 WA Gov by precinct.svg
Gregoire:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Rossi:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Tie:      50%     No votes

Governor before election

Christine Gregoire
Democratic

Elected Governor

Christine Gregoire
Democratic

The 2008 gubernatorial election in Washington was held on November 4, 2008. Republican Dino Rossi and incumbent Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire emerged from the August 19 primary. This made the 2008 election a rematch between the candidates from the 2004 election, the closest gubernatorial election in the state's history. In contrast to the recounts and months of legal challenges in their previous contest, Gregoire was the clear winner on November 5 with about 53% of the vote. With a margin of 6.48%, this election was the second-closest race of the 2008 gubernatorial election cycle, behind only the election in North Carolina.

Contents

Timeline

DateYearEventReferenceNotes
June 62008Filing deadline [1]
August 192008State primary [2] Same date as general primaries for other offices
November 42008General election [2] Same date as presidential election and other offices
November 262008General election [2] Last day for counties to deliver results to the state
December 42008General election [2] Results certified

[3]

Primary election

Candidates for office
CandidateStated party preferenceWebsiteNotes
Christine Gregoire Prefers Democratic Party Incumbent governor
Dino Rossi Prefers G.O.P. Party Ex-state senator, 2004 gubernatorial nominee
Will BakerPrefers Reform Party Out; lost primary
Duff BadgleyPrefers Green Party Out; lost primary
John W. Aiken Jr.Prefers Republican Party Out; lost primary
Christian Pierre JoubertPrefers Democratic Party Out; lost primary
Chris Tudor States No Party Preference Out; lost primary
Javier O. LopezPrefers Republican Party Out; lost primary
Mohammad Hasan SaidStates No Party Preference Out; lost primary
James WhitePrefers Independent Party Out; lost primary
Source: [4]

The Washington primary election was held August 19, 2008. For the first time, Washington ran a top-two primary, eliminating the "pick a party" primary used since 2004. Unlike traditional primaries, wherein each party with more than one candidate is reduced to a single person to appear on the general election ballot, the system simply reduces the entire crop of candidates from all parties down to the top two candidates, resulting in no more than two candidates appearing on the general election ballot for a given position. As a result, candidates from all parties were essentially running against each other. To allow for ideological identification, each candidate in a partisan race was allowed to indicate an arbitrary party preference. [5]

Controversy over Rossi's party preference

Under the changes to election law made by the passage of Initiative 872, partisan contests are no longer tied to registered parties, but candidates are allowed to indicate an arbitrary "party preference" to appear next to their name on the primary and general election ballots. [6] An extreme example of this occurred in the 40th District race for state senator, where candidate Timothy Stoddard indicated a preference for the "Salmon Yoga" party. [7]

Republican candidate Dino Rossi listed his party preference as "G.O.P." instead of the traditional party name "Republican". Critics of Rossi contended that the choice of party name was an attempt to distance himself from any negative opinions associated with the Republican Party. [8] Rossi's campaign argued that the difference was insignificant, saying voters are already aware that the terms refer to the same party. [9] However, an Elway Research poll taken in August 2008 found that over 25% of registered voters were not aware that the term "GOP" meant the Republican Party. [10]

On September 23, the Washington State Democrats, alleging that the latter is a misrepresentation of his true party affiliation, filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State to force the state to list Rossi to on the general election ballot as a Republican instead of with the "GOP Party" label. [11] A King County Superior Court judge dismissed the suit, saying nothing in state law made the choice of party name illegal, but he acknowledged the potential confusion. Had the lawsuit succeeded, many counties would have had to reprint their ballots, and the already-cast absentee votes of military personnel may have become invalid. [12]

Results

Results by county:
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Gregoire
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
Rossi
40-50%
50-60%
60-70% 2008 Washington gubernatorial primary election results map by county.svg
Results by county:
  Gregoire
  •   40–50%
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  Rossi
  •   40–50%
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%

While the primary was officially held on August 19, 2008, some counties such as King County allowed absentee ballots to be postmarked by that date in order to be valid. As a result, the primary vote tally was not officially certified until September 9, to allow time for mailed-in ballots to arrive and be counted by the counties. As an increasing number of counties allowed, encouraged, or mandated mail-in ballots for voters within the county, the number of such ballots was significant. [13]

Nonpartisan blanket primary results [a] [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Christine Gregoire 696,306 48.27%
Republican Dino Rossi 668,571 46.35%
Republican John W. Aiken Jr.21,5641.49%
Democratic Christian Pierre Joubert16,6461.15%
Independent James White10,8840.75%
Green Duff Badgley9,7020.67%
Independent Christopher A. Tudor5,6000.39%
Reform Will Baker5,2010.36%
Republican Javier O. Lopez4,9810.35%
Independent Mohammad Hasan Said3,0020.21%
Total votes1,442,457 100.00%

General election

Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi were declared the winners of the primary and placed on the ballot for the November 4 election, which coincided with the national election. However, with all Washington counties either exclusively or (in the case of Pierce and King counties) predominantly voting via mail-in ballot, [15] many votes were cast prior to that date. King County, the largest county in the state, and the one which carried Gregoire to victory in 2004, sent out overseas absentee ballots on October 5, and resident mail-in ballots on October 17. [16]

In Washington state, mail-in ballots only needed to be postmarked, not received, by November 4, meaning that valid ballots continued to be received and counted after that date. [17] For the 2008 election, counties had until November 26 to send results to the state, and the Secretary of State had until December 4 to certify all state results. [2]

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
The Cook Political Report [18] TossupOctober 16, 2008
Rothenberg Political Report [19] TossupNovember 2, 2008
Sabato's Crystal Ball [20] Lean DNovember 3, 2008
Real Clear Politics [21] TossupNovember 4, 2008

Polling

Aggregate polls

Source of poll
aggregation
Dates
administered
Dates
updated
Christine
Gregoire (D)
Dino
Rossi (R)
Other/Undecided
[b]
Margin
Real Clear Politics [22] October 22 – November 2, 2008November 2, 200850.7%47.3%2.0%Gregoire +3.4%
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin of
error
Christine
Gregoire (D)
Dino
Rossi (R)
Undecided
Survey USA [23] October 30-November 2, 200852%46%2%
Survey USA [24] October 26–27, 200850%48%2%
Rasmussen Reports [25] October 22, 200850%48%2%
Survey USA [26] October 12–13, 200848%47%5%
Rasmussen Reports [25] October 2, 200848%48%4%
Survey USA [27] September 21–22, 200850%48%2%
Strategic Vision [28] September 14–16, 2008800± 3.0%46%48%6%
Rasmussen Reports [25] September 10, 200846%52%2%
Survey USA [29] September 5–7, 200847%48%5%
SurveyUSA [30] August 11–12, 2008718± 3.7%50%48%2%
Rasmussen Reports [31] August 6, 200847%43%10%
Strategic Vision [32] July 25–27, 2008800± 3.0%47%45%8%
SurveyUSA [33] July 13–15, 2008666± 3.9%49%46%5%
Moore Information [34] July 9–10, 2008400± 5.0%45%45%11%
Rasmussen Reports [25] July 9, 200849%43%8%
Elway Poll [35] June 18–22, 2008405± 5.0%47%39%14%
Rasmussen Reports [36] June 9, 200850%43%7%
SurveyUSA [37] June 9, 2008637± 4.0%50%47%3%
Rasmussen Reports [38] May 12, 200852%41%7%
Elway Poll [39] April 21–22, 2008405± 5.0%43%38%19%
SurveyUSA [40] April 14–16, 2008634± 4.0%50%46%4%
SurveyUSA [41] April 7, 2008607± 4.1%48%47%5%
Rasmussen Reports [42] March 27, 200847%46%7%
Rasmussen Reports [43] February 28, 200846%47%7%
Washington Poll [44] February 7–18, 2008300± 5.6%54%42%4%
Elway Poll [45] January 3–6, 200840548%35%17%
Washington Poll [46] October 22–29, 2007601± 4.0%47%42%11%
Strategic Vision [47] October 5–7, 2007800± 3.0%47%45%8%
Strategic Vision [48] March 24–26, 2006800± 3.0%38%51%11%

Police Guild press conference incident

At an August 7 press conference held by the Seattle Police Officers Guild to declare its endorsement of Rossi, the Guild forcibly removed Kelly Akers, a Gregoire campaign staffer who was filming the event, from the premises. The Rossi campaign reiterated a standing policy to prevent opposing campaigns from filming Rossi's appearances, to deny them the ability to take "attack footage." Rossi's campaign staff includes a cameraman tasked with filming Gregoire appearances. [49]

Debates

Five debates were held [50] between Gregoire and Rossi, the candidates in the general election.

DateTimeLocationSponsors
2008-09-209:00 PMFisher Plaza (Seattle)Fisher Communications, League of Women Voters, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
2008-09-257:30 PMSemiahmoo Resort (Blaine)Association of Washington Business Complete video of debate - C-SPAN
2008-10-017:00 PMCapitol Theatre (Yakima) KCTS 9, Yakima Herald-Republic
2008-10-097:00 PM* [51] KSPS-TV Studios (Spokane) KSPS-TV, Spokane Spokesman-Review [52]
2008-10-158:00 PM [53] TBD KING-TV, Seattle Times , NPR

*The Spokane debate was taped in the morning to be aired at the indicated time. All other debates were held and aired live.

The Gregoire campaign had sought a sixth debate in Tacoma, sponsored by the Tacoma News-Tribune . The Rossi campaign instead sought a sixth debate in Vancouver, Washington, sponsored by The Columbian . The local Camas-Washougal Rotary Club went so far as to reserve a venue for October 8. The campaigns could not agree on either event. [54] [55] [56] [57]

The Gregoire campaign had set aside August 15 for a pre-primary radio debate with Rossi on Seattle NPR station KUOW-FM. [58] Rossi declined to appear, giving Gregoire solo airtime. [59]

Results

Gregoire declared victory after late evening returns were posted, with 42% of the statewide vote counted, showing her with a 52% lead over Rossi. [60] By 10:30 PM PST (1:30 AM EST) all five major television networks had called the race for Gregoire. [61] The Rossi campaign called the networks' declarations "premature" and did not concede defeat that evening. Rossi held out hope that late ballots would carry him, as late returns had reversed an early Gregoire lead in 2004. Rossi conceded the next morning.

Rossi conceded defeat in the gubernatorial election on November 5. In his concession speech, he indicated that he was not planning a return to politics. [62] Rossi's retirement from politics was short-lived: in 2010 he ran in (and lost) the race for United States Senate against Patty Murray.

2008 Washington gubernatorial election [63]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Christine Gregoire (incumbent) 1,598,738 53.24% +4.37%
Republican Dino Rossi 1,404,12446.76%−2.11%
Majority 194,6146.48%
Total votes3,002,862 100.00%
Democratic hold Swing +6.48%

By county

County [64] Christine Gregoire
Democratic
Dino Rossi
Republican
MarginTotal votes cast
#%#%#%
Adams 1,45330.17%3,36369.83%-1,910-39.66%4,816
Asotin 4,25443.92%5,43256.08%-1,178-12.16%9,686
Benton 21,96830.26%50,63569.74%-28,667-39.48%72,603
Chelan 12,08737.99%19,73062.01%-7,643-24.02%31,817
Clallam 18,98749.42%19,43150.58%-444-1.16%38,418
Clark 87,68348.99%91,30151.01%-3,618-2.02%178,984
Columbia 70631.48%1,53768.52%-831-37.05%2,243
Cowlitz 20,72346.38%23,95453.62%-3,231-7.23%44,677
Douglas 5,12833.87%10,01366.13%-4,885-32.26%15,141
Ferry 1,33038.33%2,14061.67%-810-23.34%3,470
Franklin 6,36532.41%13,27667.59%-6,911-35.19%19,641
Garfield 43432.01%92267.99%-488-35.99%1,356
Grant 8,73231.94%18,60468.06%-9,872-36.11%27,336
Grays Harbor 15,72953.98%13,40746.02%2,3227.97%29,136
Island 20,89150.24%20,68849.76%2030.49%41,579
Jefferson 12,58863.61%7,20036.39%5,38827.23%19,788
King 583,35764.16%325,82035.84%257,53728.33%909,177
Kitsap 62,47850.74%60,65649.26%1,8221.48%123,134
Kittitas 6,98839.44%10,73260.56%-3,744-21.13%17,720
Klickitat 4,53845.42%5,45454.58%-916-9.17%9,992
Lewis 12,28335.47%22,34764.53%-10,064-29.06%34,630
Lincoln 2,05234.66%3,86865.34%-1,816-30.68%5,920
Mason 13,94249.58%14,18150.42%-239-0.85%28,123
Okanogan 6,57539.27%10,16860.73%-3,593-21.46%16,743
Pacific 5,69552.28%5,19847.72%4974.56%10,893
Pend Oreille 2,57139.66%3,91260.34%-1,341-20.68%6,483
Pierce 166,56251.10%159,36348.90%7,1992.21%325,925
San Juan 7,04467.73%3,35632.27%3,68835.46%10,400
Skagit 27,91550.33%27,54549.67%3700.67%55,460
Skamania 2,56447.68%2,81352.32%-249-4.63%5,377
Snohomish 167,17552.67%150,20547.33%16,9705.35%317,380
Spokane 104,36948.11%112,57051.89%-8,201-3.78%216,939
Stevens 7,77135.02%14,41864.98%-6,647-29.96%22,189
Thurston 72,65257.88%52,88042.12%19,77215.75%125,532
Wahkiakum 96041.92%1,33058.08%-370-16.16%2,290
Walla Walla 9,40538.32%15,13761.68%-5,732-23.36%24,542
Whatcom 54,24954.67%44,97545.33%9,2749.35%99,224
Whitman 8,36348.46%8,89651.54%-533-3.09%17,259
Yakima 30,17239.27%46,66760.73%-16,495-21.47%76,839
Totals1,598,73853.24%1,404,12446.76%194,6146.48%3,002,862
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

By congressional district

Gregoire won five of nine congressional districts, with the remaining four going to Rossi, including one that elected a Democrat. [65]

DistrictGregoireRossiRepresentative
1st 56%44% Jay Inslee
2nd 52%48% Rick Larsen
3rd 49.6%50.4% Brian Baird
4th 35%65% Doc Hastings
5th 45%55% Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th 54%46% Norm Dicks
7th 79%21% Jim McDermott
8th 49%51% Dave Reichert
9th 54%46% Adam Smith

Notes

  1. All party affiliations are given as "Prefers x Party". Independents were listed as "States No Party Preference". Rossi's official preference was "Prefers G.O.P. Party".
  2. Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.

References

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