The 2016 Washington gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2016. Under Washington's

top-two primary A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party ...

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 Jay Robert Inslee (; born February 9, 1951) is an American politician, lawyer, and economist who has served as the 23rd List of governors of Washington, governor of Washington since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...

(Democratic) and Port of Seattle Commissioner Bill Bryant (Republican), moved on to the November general election, which Inslee won. , 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 politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and aga ...

declined to seek a third term in 2012. Democratic former U.S. Representative

was elected to succeed her, defeating Republican Rob McKenna, the outgoing

Attorney General of Washington The Attorney General of Washington is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of Washington and head of the Washington State Office of the Attorney General. The attorney general represents clients of the state and defends the public interest ...

, by 51.4% to 48.3%. The last Republican to hold the office of governor was

John Spellman John Dennis Spellman (December 29, 1926 – January 16, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 18th governor of Washington from 1981 to 1985 and as the first King County Executive from 1969 to 1981. Spellman was elected governor in ...

in 1985, meaning that Washington has the second longest period (South Dakota has not had a Democratic governor since 1979) of one-party statehouse rule in America.

Primary election

Democratic Party

Declared

* James Robert Deal * Johnathan Dodds *

, 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' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

* Bill Hirt

Declined

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

and nominee for governor in 2012 *

Dave Reichert David George Reichert (; born August 29, 1950) is an American politician, veteran, and former sheriff who served as the U.S. representative for Washington's 8th congressional district from 2005 to 2019. He is a Republican and is the former el ...

, 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 and Pierce counties, and crosses the Cascade mountains to include ...

(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

Results

General election

Debates

Complete video of debate
October 19, 2016 -

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United Stat ...

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

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 of America. It is a ria, which formed at the end of the last ice age, when sea levels flood ...

(largest city:

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

) *

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 definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

(largest city:

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. 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 ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ...

)

= Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

= *

Island An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...

(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 Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

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

Jay Inslee 2016