United States presidential election in Washington (state), 2008

United States presidential election in Washington, 2008

← 2004 November 4, 2008 2012 →
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain Party Democratic Republican Home state Illinois Arizona Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin Electoral vote 11 0 Popular vote 1,750,848 1,229,216 Percentage 57.34% 40.26%
County Results   Obama—70-80%   Obama—60-70%   Obama—50-60%   Obama—<50%   McCain—<50%   McCain—50-60%   McCain—60-70%   McCain—70-80%
President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Washington Republican caucuses and primary, 2008

← 2004 February 9, 2008 (2008-02-09) (caucus) February 19, 2008 (primary) 2012 →
Candidate John McCain Mike Huckabee Party Republican Republican Home state Arizona Arkansas Delegate count 16 8 Popular vote 3,228/262,304 2,959/127,657 Percentage 25.9%/49.50% 23.52%/24.09%   Candidate Ron Paul Mitt Romney Party Republican Republican Home state Texas Massachusetts Delegate count 5 0 Popular vote 2,740/40,539 1,903/86,140 Percentage 21.64%/7.65% 15.45%/16.25%
Results by county.   John McCain   Mike Huckabee   Ron Paul   Mitt Romney   Uncommited

George W. Bush
Republican

Barack Obama
Democratic

The 2008 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 4, 2008 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Washington was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama by a 17.1% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. No Republican presidential nominee had won the State of Washington in 20 years. Continuing on that trend, Washington stayed in the Democratic column as Obama carried the state with over 57% of the vote.

The Democratic caucuses were a series of events held by the Washington State Democratic Party to determine the delegates that the Party sent to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Delegates were selected in a four-tier process that began with precinct caucuses, was further refined in legislative district caucuses and/or county conventions, concluded for some delegates in the congressional district caucuses, and finally concluded for the remaining delegates at the state convention.

Washington also held a Democratic primary on February 19, 2008, but the Washington State Democratic Party did not use the results of the primary to determine its delegates.

The Washington State Democratic Party sent a total of 97 delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Of those delegates, 78 were pledged and 19 were unpledged. The 78 pledged delegates were allocated (pledged) to vote for a particular candidate at the National Convention according to the results of Washington's four-step caucus process. The 19 unpledged delegates were popularly called "superdelegates" because their vote represented their personal decisions, whereas the regular delegates' votes represented the collective decision of many voters. The superdelegates were free to vote for any candidate at the National Convention and were selected by the Washington State Democratic Party's officials and the pledged delegates.