SEATTLE — Days after the 2024 presidential election, the clear trend in America was voters shifting to the right, as Donald Trump expanded his base and swept all seven key battleground states. 48 of 50 states appeared to see their voters trend to the right compared to 2020.
Washington state was one state that bucked the trend and stayed blue during initial returns.
Weeks after the election, however, that's now changed.
Donald Trump managed to gain more votes in Washington state, and the margin of victory shrank for the Democrats.
In 2020, President Trump received 38.77% of the vote in Washington. In 2024, 38.99% of voters went for Trump.
A 0.2% swing is about as small as it gets. But Democrats also lost ground.
57.97% of Washington voters went for Joe Biden in 2020, compared to 57.2% for Kamala Harris.
Make no mistake, Washington is still considered a reliably blue state. Kamala Harris easily won the state's 12 electoral votes.
"When partisan voters are unhappy with their party's choice, some of them choose to not vote or to switch their vote," said Rob McKenna, former Washington State Attorney General and Republican candidate for Governor. "Trump won the popular vote mostly because of the enthusiasm gap on the Democratic side".
Three weeks after Election Day, the Washington Secretary of State's Office still reports more than 4,000 votes have yet to be counted. However, there is no indication that could change the statewide trend to the right.
Utah was the only other state that appeared to buck the trend and swing to the left in the early days after the Election. But now that the vote tally is complete, the Utah Secretary of State's Office also confirms voters leaned right in the 2024 Election.
That makes a full 50-state swing to the right for President-Elect Donald Trump.