Incumbent President Gerald Ford won the state of Washington with 50% of the vote, which made the state 6% more Republican than the nation-at-large,[1] but Ford received only eight of the state's nine electoral votes. Former California GovernorRonald Reagan lost the Republican nomination to Gerald Ford in 1976 and was not on the ballot in any state. However, he was given one electoral vote by Washington faithless electorMike Padden.
As of 2020, the 1976 election remains the last time that a Democrat would win the presidency without carrying Washington state, or that the state would vote Republican in a close nationwide contest. 1976 was also the last time until 2016 that a presidential candidate would lose an electoral vote to a faithless elector in the state. The 1976 election was also the last time that Clallam County backed the losing national candidate, and the county now has the nation's longest streak of picking the winner of the electoral college in presidential elections by being the only county in the nation, as of 2020, that has backed the winning national candidate every time since 1980. In addition, Clallam County has only twice gone for the losing national candidate since 1920 (in 1968 and 1976).
Results
1976 United States presidential election in Washington[1]
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