1984 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
The 1984 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 6, 1984. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.
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 County Results
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| Elections in Washington |
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The State of Washington was won by incumbent United States President Ronald Reagan of California, who was running against former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Reagan ran for a second time with incumbent Vice President and former C.I.A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Mondale ran with Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York, the first major female candidate for the vice presidency. This is the last time Washington has voted for a Republican in a presidential election, though Colin Powell would receive the votes of three faithless electors in 2016.
Partisan background
The presidential election of 1984 was a very partisan election for Washington, with over 98 percent of the electorate voting for either the Democratic or Republican parties.[1] Nearly all counties in Washington voted mainly Republican, save a handful of counties along the southern Pacific coast of the state, which voted mainly Democratic. This included Seattle's highly populated King County, which is the most recent time Seattle has voted Republican. This is also the last time that Pierce County, Thurston County, and San Juan County voted Republican.[2]
Washington weighed in for this election as 3% more Democratic than the national average.
Republican victory
Reagan won the election in Washington with a decisive 13 point landslide. Nonetheless, this result made Washington about 4% more Democratic than the nation-at-large. The election results in Washington are reflective of a nationwide reconsolidation of base for the Republican Party which took place through the 1980s; called by Reagan the "second American Revolution."[3] This was most evident during the 1984 presidential election. No Republican candidate has received as strong of support in the American Pacific states at large, as Californian Reagan did. This is also the most recent election cycle where Washington sent Republican electors to the Electoral College.
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election where the Republican candidate won King County, home of Washington's largest city, Seattle.
References
- "1984 Presidential General Election Results – Washington". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
- Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
- Raines, Howell (November 7, 1984). "Reagan Wins By a Landslide, Sweeping at Least 48 States; G.O.P. Gains Strength in House". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
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