Washington gubernatorial election, 2020

	2024 → ← 2016
Governor of Washington
	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

General election for Governor of Washington

Incumbent Jay Inslee defeated Loren Culp in the general election for Governor of Washington on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Jay Inslee (D)	56.6	2,294,243
	Loren Culp (R)	43.1	1,749,066
	Other/Write-in votes	0.3	13,145

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,056,454
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Governor of Washington

The following candidates ran in the primary for Governor of Washington on August 4, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Jay Inslee (D)	50.1	1,247,916
✔	Loren Culp (R)	17.4	433,238
	Joshua Freed (R)	8.9	222,553
	Tim Eyman (R)	6.4	159,495
	Raul Garcia (R)	5.4	135,045
	Phil Fortunato (R)	4.0	99,265
	Don Rivers (D)	1.0	25,601
	Leon Lawson (Trump Republican Party)	0.9	23,073
	Liz Hallock (G)	0.9	21,537
	Cairo D'Almeida (D)	0.6	14,657
	Anton Sakharov (Trump Republican Party)	0.6	13,935
	Nate Herzog (Pre-2016 Republican Party)	0.5	11,303
	Gene Hart (D)	0.4	10,605
	Omari Tahir-Garrett (D)	0.4	8,751
	Ryan Ryals (Unaffiliated)	0.3	6,264
	Henry Dennison (Socialist Workers Party)	0.2	5,970
	GoodSpaceGuy (Trump Republican Party)	0.2	5,646
	Richard Carpenter (R)	0.2	4,962
	Elaina Gonzalez (Independent)	0.2	4,772
	Matthew Murray (R)	0.2	4,489
	Thor Amundson (Independent)	0.1	3,638
	Bill Hirt (R)	0.1	2,854
	Martin Wheeler (R)	0.1	2,686
	Ian Gonzales (R)	0.1	2,537
	Joshua Wolf (New Liberty Party)	0.1	2,315
	Cregan Newhouse (Unaffiliated)	0.1	2,291
	Brian Weed (Unaffiliated)	0.1	2,178
	Alex Tsimerman (Standup-America Party)	0.1	1,721
	Tylor Grow (R)	0.1	1,509
	Dylan Nails (Independent)	0.1	1,470
	Craig Campbell (Unaffiliated)	0.0	1,178
	William Miller (American Patriot Party)	0.0	1,148
	Cameron Vessey (Unaffiliated)	0.0	718
	Winston Wilkes (Propertarianist Party)	0.0	702
	David Blomstrom (Fifth Republic Party)	0.0	519
	David Voltz (Cascadia Labour Party)	0.0	480
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,938

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,488,959
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Mathew Mackenzie (R)
Phillip Bailey (D)
Asa Palagi (Independent)
Lisa Thomas (Unaffiliated)
Matthew Heines (Unaffiliated)

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	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	Jay Inslee Incumbent	49.30%	687,412
	Republican	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	Jay 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

To view the electoral history dating back to 2000 for the office of Governor of Washington, click [show] to expand the section.

2008

On November 4, 2008, Christine Gregoire won re-election to the office of Governor of Washington. She defeated Dino Rossi in the general election.

Governor of Washington, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Christine Gregoire Incumbent	53.2%	1,598,738
	Republican	Dino Rossi	46.8%	1,404,124
Total Votes				3,002,862
Election results via Washington Secretary of State.

2004

On November 2, 2004, Christine Gregoire won election to the office of Governor of Washington. She defeated Dino Rossi, Ruth Bennett in the general election.

Governor of Washington, 2004
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Christine Gregoire	48.9%	1,373,361
	Republican	Dino Rossi	48.9%	1,373,228
	Libertarian	Ruth Bennett	2.3%	63,464
Total Votes				2,810,053
Election results via Washington Secretary of State.

2000

On November 7, 2000, Gary Locke won re-election to the office of Governor of Washington. He defeated John Carlson, Steve W. LePage in the general election.

Governor of Washington, 2000
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Gary Locke Incumbent	58.4%	1,441,973
	Republican	John Carlson	39.7%	980,060
	Libertarian	Steve W. LePage	1.9%	47,819
Total Votes				2,469,852
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
	Washington	U.S.
Total population:	7,160,290	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	66,456	3,531,905
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.

2016 presidential results by state House district
District	Obama	Romney	2012 Margin	Clinton	Trump	2016 Margin
1	59.66%	37.93%	D+21.7	61.73%	30.36%	D+31.4
2	47.71%	49.88%	R+2.2	37.79%	53.05%	R+15.3
3	57.66%	38.63%	D+19	51.82%	38.12%	D+13.7
4	40.00%	57.37%	R+17.4	34.91%	56.36%	R+21.4
5	53.41%	44.29%	D+9.1	54.74%	37.12%	D+17.6
6	46.76%	50.72%	R+4	44.72%	46.75%	R+2
7	36.16%	61.01%	R+24.9	29.00%	63.45%	R+34.5
8	36.10%	61.49%	R+25.4	34.54%	57.03%	R+22.5
9	37.70%	59.71%	R+22	35.13%	56.40%	R+21.3
10	50.21%	47.38%	D+2.8	46.94%	45.07%	D+1.9
11	67.51%	30.27%	D+37.2	67.74%	25.40%	D+42.3
12	39.91%	57.67%	R+17.8	37.34%	55.97%	R+18.6
13	35.70%	61.75%	R+26	31.04%	61.91%	R+30.9
14	42.63%	54.97%	R+12.3	38.98%	54.23%	R+15.2
15	45.75%	52.31%	R+6.6	42.51%	51.74%	R+9.2
16	38.20%	59.21%	R+21	36.00%	56.67%	R+20.7
17	48.28%	49.36%	R+1.1	45.51%	46.88%	R+1.4
18	43.85%	54.12%	R+10.3	42.36%	50.56%	R+8.2
19	53.59%	43.66%	D+9.9	41.57%	50.52%	R+8.9
20	40.98%	56.26%	R+15.3	30.96%	61.41%	R+30.4
21	61.52%	36.25%	D+25.3	62.27%	30.19%	D+32.1
22	63.17%	33.68%	D+29.5	60.67%	30.15%	D+30.5
23	57.91%	39.72%	D+18.2	56.69%	34.37%	D+22.3
24	54.21%	42.81%	D+11.4	48.95%	43.35%	D+5.6
25	50.87%	46.92%	D+4	45.23%	46.56%	R+1.3
26	49.33%	48.06%	D+1.3	45.36%	45.35%	D+0
27	67.29%	30.00%	D+37.3	65.15%	26.43%	D+38.7
28	54.44%	43.37%	D+11.1	52.61%	38.96%	D+13.7
29	62.55%	34.97%	D+27.6	54.47%	36.76%	D+17.7
30	58.70%	39.18%	D+19.5	56.77%	35.96%	D+20.8
31	47.88%	49.93%	R+2.1	41.61%	50.16%	R+8.5
32	70.64%	26.92%	D+43.7	71.67%	21.56%	D+50.1
33	65.65%	32.25%	D+33.4	64.85%	28.57%	D+36.3
34	77.41%	20.25%	D+57.2	79.30%	14.85%	D+64.4
35	51.47%	45.95%	D+5.5	44.25%	46.59%	R+2.3
36	81.82%	15.34%	D+66.5	85.25%	9.15%	D+76.1
37	86.30%	11.18%	D+75.1	87.06%	8.13%	D+78.9
38	59.99%	37.08%	D+22.9	53.38%	37.81%	D+15.6
39	49.44%	47.52%	D+1.9	40.00%	50.75%	R+10.7
40	62.09%	34.70%	D+27.4	62.61%	29.29%	D+33.3
41	60.00%	38.22%	D+21.8	67.76%	26.09%	D+41.7
42	49.67%	47.37%	D+2.3	47.57%	44.43%	D+3.1
43	85.99%	10.63%	D+75.4	88.74%	5.96%	D+82.8
44	54.08%	43.61%	D+10.5	50.96%	40.24%	D+10.7
45	58.18%	39.63%	D+18.6	64.80%	28.03%	D+36.8
46	78.25%	19.15%	D+59.1	81.92%	12.42%	D+69.5
47	55.53%	42.30%	D+13.2	54.37%	38.29%	D+16.1
48	61.67%	35.86%	D+25.8	68.17%	25.02%	D+43.2
49	57.30%	40.04%	D+17.3	54.21%	37.87%	D+16.3
Total	56.16%	41.29%	D+14.9	54.30%	38.07%	D+16.2
Source: Daily Kos

Voter guides

2020 State Cannabis Voter Guides

External links

Suggest a link

Office of the Governor of Washington

Footnotes

↑ ^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.
↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Frequently Asked Questions on Voting by Mail," accessed August 2, 2016
↑ Washington Secretary of State, "August 7, 2012 Primary Results: State executives," accessed August 8, 2012
↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts," July 9, 2013
↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017

[wamail-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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Washington gubernatorial election, 2020

Contents

Election procedure changes in 2020

Candidates and results

General election

General election for Governor of Washington

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Governor of Washington

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Ballot access requirements

Past elections

2016

General election

Primary election

2012

About the office

Governor

State profile

Presidential voting pattern

Pivot Counties (2016)

Pivot Counties (2020)

Pivot Counties

Presidential results by legislative district

Voter guides

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2024 Elections

2024 Election analysis

2025 Elections

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

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