United States presidential election in the District of Columbia, 2008

United States presidential election in District of Columbia, 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 3 0 Popular vote 245,800 17,367 Percentage 92.5% 6.5%
District of Columbia results by ward   Obama—80-90%   Obama—>90%
President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

George W. Bush
Republican

Barack Obama
Democratic

The 2008 United States presidential election took place on November 4, 2008 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. In D.C., voters chose 3 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

The District of Columbia went to Democrat Barack Obama by a margin of 210,403 votes out of 225,224 votes cast, about 92 percentage points of the total vote. Obama's margin was wider than John Kerry's in 2004, when Kerry won the District of Columbia by a margin of about 80 percentage points. D.C. has voted for the Democratic candidate in every presidential election by large margins since 1964. This election also provided the largest percentage that the Democratic candidate has won DC.

Bob Barr was certified as a write-in in the District of Columbia, but votes for him weren't counted. Litigation is ongoing to have the votes counted.

Each candidate's best result is shown in bold.

Technically the voters of D.C. cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. D.C. is allocated 3 electors. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 3 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 3 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for President and Vice President. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.