2016 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia

Main article: 2016 United States presidential election
2016 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia
← 2012 November 8, 2016 2020 →
Turnout65.3% Increase
 
Nominee Hillary Clinton Donald Trump
Party Democratic Republican
Home state New York New York
Running mate Tim Kaine Mike Pence
Electoral vote 3 0
Popular vote 282,830 12,723
Percentage 90.86% 4.09%
Clinton
  70–80%
  80–90%
  90-100%

President before election

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elected President

Donald Trump
Republican

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    The 2016 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all fifty states and the District of Columbia participated. District of Columbia voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. The District of Columbia has three electoral votes in the Electoral College.[1] Prior to the election, Clinton was considered to be virtually certain to win Washington DC.

    Clinton won the election with 282,830 votes, or 90.9%, thereby becoming the first presidential candidate to win over 95% of the district's two-party vote. Trump received 12,723 votes, or 4.1%,[2] which is both the lowest popular vote total and the lowest share of the vote received by any Republican candidate since voters in the District were granted presidential electors under the Twenty-third Amendment.

    Notably, Clinton's 86.77-point margin of victory also represented the largest secured by any major-party presidential candidate, in any jurisdiction, since Franklin D. Roosevelt's landslide re-election in 1944 in Mississippi. It is the largest ever in the district. Trump's 4.1% is the lowest vote share for a major party nominee since Thomas E. Dewey in that same election, and the lowest ever in the district. Along with 11 other states, the District of Columbia shifted towards the Democrats in this election.[3]

    Primary elections

    [edit]
    Further information: United States presidential election § Procedure

    The incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, a Democrat and former U.S. Senator from Illinois, was first elected president in the 2008 election, running with former Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. Defeating the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, with 52.9% of the popular vote and 68% of the electoral vote,[4][5] Obama succeeded two-term Republican President George W. Bush, the former Governor of Texas. Obama and Biden were reelected in the 2012 presidential election, defeating former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 51.1% of the popular vote and 61.7% of electoral votes.[6] Although Barack Obama's approval rating in the RealClearPolitics poll tracking average remained between 40 and 50 percent for most of his second term, it experienced a surge in early 2016 and reached its highest point since 2012 during June of that year.[7][8] Analyst Nate Cohn noted that a strong approval rating for President Obama would equate to a strong performance for the Democratic candidate, and vice versa.[9]

    Following his second term, President Obama was not eligible for another reelection. In October 2015, his running-mate and two-term Vice President Biden decided not to enter the race for the Democratic presidential nomination either.[10] With their term expiring on January 20, 2017, the electorate was asked to elect a new president, the 45th president and 48th vice president of the United States, respectively.

    Main articles: 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries and 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries

    Republican convention

    [edit]

    Due to the small geographical size of the District of Columbia and the very small number of Republicans in the District, the local Republican party decided go directly to a "state convention", which took place at the Loews Madison Hotel at 1177 15th St NW from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. The Convention/Caucus method was chosen because the June 14th primary was deemed too late, and DC would be penalized and only get 16 delegates.[11]

    District of Columbia Republican presidential convention, March 12, 2016
    Candidate Votes Percentage Actual delegate count
    Bound Unbound Total
    Marco Rubio 1,059 37.3% 10 0 10
    John Kasich 1,009 35.54% 9 0 9
    Donald Trump 391 13.77% 0 0 0
    Ted Cruz 351 12.36% 0 0 0
    Jeb Bush (withdrawn) 14 0.49% 0 0 0
    Rand Paul (withdrawn) 12 0.42% 0 0 0
    Ben Carson (withdrawn) 3 0.11% 0 0 0
    Unprojected delegates: 0 0 0
    Total: 2,839 100% 19 0 19
    Source: The Green Papers

    Democratic primary

    [edit]
    Results by ward
      Hillary Clinton

    The Democratic primary was held June 14. The date was chosen because it was thought that by then the race would be over and the voters could then concentrate on local races.

    Results

    [edit]
    See also: Results of the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
    e • d 2016 Democratic Party's presidential nominating process in the District of Columbia
    – Summary of results –
    Candidate Popular vote Estimated delegates
    Count Percentage Pledged Unpledged Total
    Hillary Clinton 76,704 77.95% 16 23 39
    Bernie Sanders 20,361 20.69% 4 2 6
    Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente 213 0.22%
    Under votes 611 0.62%
    Write-in 485 0.49%
    Over votes 24 0.02%
    Uncommitted — 0 0 0
    Total 98,398 100% 20 25 45
    Source: [12][13]
    By ward
    [edit]
    County [14] Clinton Votes Sanders Votes Totals TO%
    Ward 1 73.8% 9,893 25.3% 3,181 12,563 24.34%
    Ward 2 79.6% 7,294 19.4% 1,777 9,164 25.29%
    Ward 3 77.1% 10,893 21.8% 3,087 14,135 32.00%
    Ward 4 77.9% 12,863 20.7% 3,421 16,516 29.46%
    Ward 5 78.2% 9,214 20.5% 2,419 11,779 19.89%
    Ward 6 77.9% 11,898 20.9% 3,198 15,275 24.89%
    Ward 7 82.1% 8,657 16.2% 1,707 10,548 18.82%
    Ward 8 78.6% 6,612 18.7% 1,571 8,418 15.17%
    Total 78.0% 76,704 20.7% 20,361 98,398 23.42%
    Ballot controversy
    [edit]

    On March 30, ten weeks ahead of the Washington D.C. primary, NBC affiliate News 4 reported that the Democratic Party's D.C. State Committee had submitted registration paperwork for listing presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on the primary ballots a day late, even though the Sanders campaign had correctly and timely registered with the state party. After a voter filed a challenge, this would possibly lead to Sanders' name being missing on the ballots.[15] As the D.C. Council announced it would hold an emergency vote to put Sanders back on the ballots,[16] and with Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta asking to make sure an administrative error wouldn't exclude a candidate, D.C. Democratic Party chairwoman Anita Bonds told CNN that "Bernie will be on the ballot." She further explained that the party has always notified the D.C. board of elections a day after the deadline, with the only difference being that this time, someone challenged the inclusion of Sanders.[17]

    General election

    [edit]

    Voting history

    [edit]
    Main article: Political party strength in Washington, D.C.

    The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961, grants the District of Columbia the right to choose presidential electors equal to the number from the least populous state (currently Wyoming's three). Since the amendment's ratification, the District of Columbia has cast its electoral votes for the Democratic candidate in every election. A Republican has never been the District's Mayor, and the current Council has 10 Democrats and two Independents.

    Predictions

    [edit]
    Source Ranking As of
    Los Angeles Times[18] Safe D November 6, 2016
    CNN[19] Safe D November 4, 2016
    Cook Political Report[20] Safe D November 7, 2016
    Electoral-vote.com[21] Safe D November 8, 2016
    Sabato's Crystal Ball[22] Safe D November 7, 2016
    Fox News[23] Safe D November 7, 2016

    Results

    [edit]
    2016 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia[24]
    Party Candidate Running mate Popular vote Electoral vote Swing
    Count % Count %
    Democratic Hillary Clinton of New York Tim Kaine of Virginia 282,830 90.86% 3 100.00% Decrease 0.05%
    Republican Donald Trump of New York Mike Pence of Indiana 12,723 4.09% 0 0.00% Decrease 3.19%
    Independent Write-in of Write-in of 6,551 2.10% 0 0.00% Increase 1.84%
    Libertarian Gary Johnson of New Mexico Bill Weld of Massachusetts 4,906 1.58% 0 0.00% Increase 0.87%
    Green Jill Stein of Massachusetts Ajamu Baraka of Illinois 4,258 1.37% 0 0.00% Increase 0.53%
    Total 311,268 100.00% 3 100.00%

    By ward

    [edit]
    County [25] Clinton Clinton
    %     		Trump Trump
    %     		Johnson Johnson
    %     		Stein Stein
    %     		Others Others
    %     		Void Void
    %     		Total
    Ward 1 37,490 92.26% 1,066 2.62% 645 1.59% 675 1.66% 653 1.61% 104 0.26% 40,633
    Ward 2 28,714 86.24% 2,304 6.92% 853 2.56% 351 1.05% 939 2.82% 136 0.40% 33,297
    Ward 3 36,475 85.23% 3,323 7.76% 994 2.32% 522 1.22% 1,268 2.96% 213 0.50% 42,795
    Ward 4 37,962 92.21% 1,358 3.30% 376 0.91% 732 1.78% 569 1.38% 173 0.42% 41,170
    Ward 5 37,021 92.32% 1,141 2.85% 504 1.26% 628 1.57% 634 1.58% 174 0.43% 40,102
    Ward 6 45,540 87.73% 2,506 4.83% 1,187 2.29% 605 1.17% 1,849 3.56% 222 0.43% 51,909
    Ward 7 31,784 95.04% 547 1.64% 186 0.56% 420 1.26% 355 1.06% 150 0.45% 33,442
    Ward 8 27,844 95.27% 478 1.64% 161 0.55% 325 1.11% 284 0.97% 135 0.46% 29,227

    See also

    [edit]

    References

    [edit]
    1. ^ "Distribution of Electoral Votes". National Archives and Records Administration. September 19, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
    2. ^ "General Election 2016 – Unofficial Results". Retrieved November 10, 2016.
    3. ^ "District Of Columbia Presidential Election Voting History". Retrieved October 8, 2018.
    4. ^ "United States House of Representatives floor summary for Jan 8, 2009". Clerk.house.gov. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved January 30, 2009.
    5. ^ "Federal elections 2008" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
    6. ^ "President Map". The New York Times. November 29, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
    7. ^ "Election Other – President Obama Job Approval". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
    8. ^ Byrnes, Jesse (June 15, 2016). "Poll: Obama approval rating highest since 2012". TheHill. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
    9. ^ Cohn, Nate (January 19, 2015). "What a Rise in Obama's Approval Rating Means for 2016". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
    10. ^ "Joe Biden Decides Not to Enter Presidential Race". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
    11. ^ "With Their Presidential Primary On Saturday, D.C. Republicans Finally Have A Big Say In Something: DCist". Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
    12. ^ The Green Papers
    13. ^ District of Columbia Board of Elections – Official Primary Results
    14. ^ "Primarias Presidenciales Dem贸cratas 2016 - Comisi贸n Estatal de Elecciones". Democratas2016.ceepur.org. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
    15. ^ Tom Sherwood (March 30, 2016). "Bernie Sanders May Be Off DC Ballot After Democratic Party Filing". NBC 4 Washington. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
    16. ^ Tom Sherwood (March 31, 2016). "DC to Hold Emergency Vote to Get Bernie Sanders on Democratic Primary Ballot". NBC 4 Washington. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
    17. ^ Tom LoBlanco (March 31, 2016). "Sanders likely on D.C. ballot despite challenge". CNN. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
    18. ^ "Our final map has Clinton winning with 352 electoral votes. Compare your picks with ours". Los Angeles Times. November 6, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
    19. ^ Chalian, David (November 4, 2016). "Road to 270: CNN's new election map". CNN. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
    20. ^ "2016 Electoral Scorecard". The Cook Political Report. November 7, 2016. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
    21. ^ "2016 Electoral Map Prediction". Electoral-vote.com. November 8, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
    22. ^ Sabato, Larry J. (November 7, 2016). "2016 President". University of Virginia Center for Politics. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
    23. ^ "Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge". Fox News. November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
    24. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/district-of-columbia NY Times
    25. ^ "General Election 2016 - Certified Results". District of Columbia: Board of Elections. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
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