2016 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia

Main article: 2016 United States presidential election

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.

2016 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia

← 2012 November 8, 2016 2020 →
Turnout	65.3%
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%
Ward results Precinct results Clinton   70–80%   80–90%   90-100%
President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Donald Trump Republican

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 1936 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 Alf Landon 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

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

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

 

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

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: The Green Papers, District of Columbia Board of Elections – Official Primary Results

Results by ward

County ^[12]	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

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.^[13] As the D.C. Council announced it would hold an emergency vote to put Sanders back on the ballots,^[14] 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.^[15]

General election

Voting History

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

Source	Ranking	As of
Los Angeles Times^[16]	Safe D	November 6, 2016
CNN^[17]	Safe D	November 4, 2016
Cook Political Report^[18]	Safe D	November 7, 2016
Electoral-vote.com^[19]	Safe D	November 8, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[20]	Safe D	November 7, 2016
Fox News^[21]	Safe D	November 7, 2016

Results

2016 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia^[22]
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%	0.05%
	Republican	Donald Trump of New York	Mike Pence of Indiana	12,723	4.09%	0	0.00%	3.19%
	Independent	Write-in of	Write-in of	6,551	2.10%	0	0.00%	1.84%
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson of New Mexico	Bill Weld of Massachusetts	4,906	1.58%	0	0.00%	0.87%
	Green	Jill Stein of Massachusetts	Ajamu Baraka of Illinois	4,258	1.37%	0	0.00%	0.53%
Total				311,268	100.00%	3	100.00%

Results by ward

County ^[23]	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

• 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries

References

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. . 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". from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
12. "Primarias Presidenciales Dem贸cratas 2016 - Comisi贸n Estatal de Elecciones". Democratas2016.ceepur.org. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
13. Tom Sherwood (March 30, 2016). "Bernie Sanders May Be Off DC Ballot After Democratic Party Filing". NBC 4 Washington. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
14. 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.
15. Tom LoBlanco (March 31, 2016). "Sanders likely on D.C. ballot despite challenge". CNN. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
16. "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.
17. Chalian, David (November 4, 2016). "Road to 270: CNN's new election map". CNN. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
18. "2016 Electoral Scorecard". The Cook Political Report. November 7, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
19. "2016 Electoral Map Prediction". Electoral-vote.com. November 8, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
20. Sabato, Larry J. (November 7, 2016). "2016 President". University of Virginia Center for Politics. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
21. "Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge". Fox News. November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
22. https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/district-of-columbia NY Times
23. "2016 General Election Results". Retrieved December 23, 2016.