WASHINGTON: On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris secured Washington state’s 12 electoral votes by defeating former President Donald Trump, who has struggled to gain traction in the region.
Washington has consistently supported Democratic presidential candidates since 1984, when it last voted for a Republican, Ronald Reagan. In the 2020 election, President Joe Biden won the state with 58% of the vote, while Trump garnered less than 39%. The Associated Press announced Harris’s victory at 11:00 PM EST.
To win the presidency, a candidate needs to reach 270 electoral votes. Analysts predict that the closely contested presidential race will likely hinge on a few critical battleground states.
Below is a summary of the states won by each candidate along with their respective electoral vote counts, as projected by major U.S. media outlets including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC, and CBS.
Understanding the Electoral College
In the U.S., a candidate doesn’t become president by simply winning the national popular vote. Instead, they must navigate the Electoral College system, which assigns electoral votes to the 50 states and the District of Columbia according to their population sizes.
When voters head to the polls, they typically only see the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates. However, their votes are actually cast for a designated group of electors known as a “slate.” There are 538 electoral votes available nationally, which means a candidate must secure at least 270 to claim victory.
Electors are usually party loyalists committed to supporting the candidate who wins the most votes in their state. Each elector represents one vote within the Electoral College. In the 2020 election, Joe Biden won 306 electoral votes, while Trump received 232.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump, the 78-year-old Republican contender, has withstood two assassination attempts, one very narrowly, shortly after being convicted of a felony by a New York jury, making history as the first former U.S. president to face such a charge.
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris, 60 years old, rose to the forefront of the Democratic Party in July, positioning herself to potentially become the first woman to hold the nation’s highest office. This shift followed President Joe Biden’s, who is 81, underwhelming debate performance and subsequent decision to withdraw from his reelection campaign due to pressure from party members.
Despite the tumult in the political landscape, the dynamics of the contest have remained relatively stable. Current polls indicate that Harris and Trump are neck and neck at both the national level and in crucial battleground states. More than 77 million voters have already cast their ballots, but the next two days will be crucial in determining which campaign is more successful in mobilizing its supporters to vote.
Record-breaking voter turnout has been observed from both Democrats and Republicans during the last two presidential elections, reflecting the intense emotions Trump evokes across political lines.
In these final days of campaigning, both candidates are heavily utilizing social media, TV, and radio ads, while also canvassing neighborhoods and making calls directly to voters.
Harris’s campaign team is confident in its ability to mobilize voters, reporting that volunteers knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors across key battleground states over the weekend. "We are feeling very good about where we are right now,” stated campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon to the press.
Internal data from the campaign suggests that undecided voters, especially women in pivotal states, are leaning towards them. Moreover, there has been a notable increase in early voting among their core supporters, including younger voters and voters of color.
Trump’s campaign also has its canvassing initiatives but has largely relied on external super PACs—independent political organizations that can raise and spend unlimited funds—to handle much of the outreach.
Their strategy appears to focus on engaging “low propensity” voters—those who don’t typically vote—rather than trying to appeal to moderate voters who might sway toward either side.
