The 2016 Washington gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2016. Under Washington's top-two primary law, all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party. In the August 2 primary, residents voted for one of several candidates from a range of party affiliations. The top two finishers, incumbent Governor Jay Inslee (Democratic) and Port of Seattle Commissioner Bill Bryant (Republican), moved on to the November general election, which Inslee won. As of , this was the last gubernatorial election in Washington in which the margin of victory was within single digits.

Background

Democratic governor

Christine Gregoire Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American attorney and politician who served as the List of governors of Washington, 22nd governor of Washington, from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), D ...

declined to seek a third term in 2012. Democratic former U.S. Representative Jay Inslee was elected to succeed her, defeating Republican

Rob McKenna Robert Marion McKenna (born October 1, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 17th attorney general of Washington from 2005 to 2013 after serving on the Metropolitan King County Council from 1996 to 2005. A member of the ...

, the outgoing Attorney General of Washington, by 51.4% to 48.3%.

Primary election

Democratic Party

Declared

* James Robert Deal * Johnathan Dodds * Jay Inslee, incumbent governor * Patrick O'Rourke

Republican Party

Declared

* Bill Bryant, former Seattle Port Commissioner * Goodspaceguy,

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

* Bill Hirt

Declined

* Andy Hill, state senator * Steve Litzow, state senator (running for reelection) *

, former Attorney General of Washington and candidate for governor in 2012 * Dave Reichert, U.S. Representative for

Washington's 8th congressional district Washington's 8th congressional district is a district for the United States House of Representatives located in western Washington State. It includes the eastern portions of King County, Washington, King, Pierce County, Washington, Pierce, and S ...

(running for reelection)

Third Party and independent candidates

Declared

* David Blomstrom (Fifth Republic) * Christian Joubert (Holistic) * Mary Martin ( Socialist Workers) * Steve Rubenstein (Independent)

Declined

* Randy Dorn, State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Polling

with Inslee, Bryant, and Dorn

Results

General election

Debates

Complete video of debate
October 19, 2016 -

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

Predictions

Endorsements

Polling

Aggregate polls
Jay Inslee vs. Andy Hill
Jay Inslee vs. Rob McKenna
Jay Inslee vs. Dave Reichert
Jay Inslee vs. generic Republican
Jay Inslee vs. generic opponent
Generic Democrat vs. generic Republican

Results

By county

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican *

Grays Harbor Grays Harbor is an estuarine bay located north of the mouth of the Columbia River, on the southwest Pacific coast of Washington state, in the United States. It is a ria, which formed at the end of the last ice age, when sea levels flooded the ...

(largest city:

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

) *

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

(largest city:

Raymond Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

) Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic *

Island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

(largest city: Oak Harbor) * Kitsap (largest city: Bremerton) * Pierce (largest city: Tacoma)

By congressional district

Inslee won 6 of 10 congressional districts.

Notes

References

External links

Official campaign websites (Archived)
David Blomstrom (FR) for GovernorPatrick O'Rourke (D) for GovernorJay Inslee (D) for GovernorBill Bryant (R) for GovernorJames Robert Deal (D) for Governor
{{Washington elections Washington

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Jay Inslee

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...