United States presidential elections in the District of Columbia

Last updated

Presidential elections in the District of Columbia
Washington, D.C. locator map.svg
Number of elections15
Voted Democratic15
Voted Republican0
Voted other0
Voted for winning candidate7
Voted for losing candidate8

The District of Columbia is a political division coterminous with Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. [1] Since the enactment of the 23rd amendment to the Constitution in 1961, [2] the district has participated in 15 presidential elections. The amendment states that it cannot have more electoral votes than the state with the smallest number of electors. [3] Since then, it has been allocated three electoral votes in every presidential election. [4] The Democratic Party has immense political strength in the district. In each of the 15 presidential elections, the district has overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic candidate, with no margin less than 56.5 percentage points. It has been won by the losing candidate in 8 of the 15 elections.

Contents

In the 2000 presidential election, Barbara Lett-Simmons, an elector from the district, left her ballot blank to protest its lack of voting representation in Congress. As a result, Al Gore received only two of the three electoral votes from Washington, D.C. [5] In 2016, 85.7% of the registered voters approved a statehood referendum. [6] In recent times, there have been various statehood movements in the District of Columbia, which advocates making the district a state. [7] [8]

The district is a signatory of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an interstate compact in which signatories award all of their electoral votes to the winner of the national-level popular vote in a presidential election, even if another candidate won an individual signatory's popular vote. As of 2023, it has not yet gone into force. [9]

Presidential elections

Key for parties
   Democratic Party – (D)
   Green Party – (G)
   Libertarian Party – (LI)
   New Alliance Party – (NA)
   Republican Party – (R)
Note A double dagger () indicates the national winner.
Presidential elections in the District of Columbia from 1964 to present
YearWinnerRunner-upOther candidate [lower-alpha 1] EVRef.
CandidateVotes%CandidateVotes%CandidateVotes%
Lyndon B. Johnson (D)169,796 Barry Goldwater (R)28,8013
Hubert Humphrey (D)139,566 Richard Nixon (R)31,0123
George McGovern (D)127,627 Richard Nixon (R)35,226 Linda Jenness (SW)3163
Jimmy Carter (D)137,818 Gerald Ford (R)27,873 Peter Camejo (SW)5453
Jimmy Carter (D)130,231 Ronald Reagan (R)23,313 John B. Anderson (I)16,1313
Walter Mondale (D)180,408 Ronald Reagan (R)29,009 David Bergland (LI)2793
Michael Dukakis (D)159,407 George H. W. Bush (R)27,590 Lenora Fulani (NA)2,9013
Bill Clinton (D)192,619 George H. W. Bush (R)20,698 Ross Perot (I)9,6813
Bill Clinton (D)158,220 Bob Dole (R)17,339 Ralph Nader (G)4,7803
Al Gore (D)171,923 George W. Bush (R)18,073 Ralph Nader (G)10,5762 [lower-alpha 4]
John Kerry (D)202,970 George W. Bush (R)21,256 Ralph Nader (I)1,4853
Barack Obama (D)245,800 John McCain (R)17,367 Ralph Nader (I)1,1383
Barack Obama (D)267,070 Mitt Romney (R)21,381 Jill Stein (G)2,4583
Hillary Clinton (D)282,830 Donald Trump (R)12,723 Gary Johnson (LI)4,9063
Joe Biden (D)317,323 Donald Trump (R)18,586 Jo Jorgensen (LI)2,0363

Graph

The following graph shows the margin of victory of the Democratic Party over the Republican Party in the 15 presidential elections the District of Columbia participated.

See also

Notes

  1. For purposes of these lists, other candidates are defined as those who were in third place in the district
  2. Various write-in candidates received 1,944 votes. [19]
  3. Various write-in candidates received 809 votes. [24]
  4. Abstention from one elector [36]
  5. Various write-in candidates received 6,551 votes [48]
  6. Various write-in candidates received 3,137 votes [50]

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References

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Works cited