PREVIEW: A look at the U.S. county that has voted for the presidential winner every time since 1980

Record ID: 1850486

  • Title: PREVIEW: A look at the U.S. county that has voted for the presidential winner every time since 1980
  • Date: 23rd October 2024
  • Summary: VARIOUS TRUMP MERCHANDISE ON A TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) REPUBLICAN WOMEN OF CLALLAM COUNTY PRESIDENT, SANDRA LYTLE, SAYING: "I believe President Trump's going to win it this time. I believe that we're going to have a lot of quiet voters going into that booth, and they're going to vote what they know is going to make this America great again. Because right now we are, we
  • Embargoed: 6th November 2024 11:30
  • Keywords: BELLWETHER CLALLAM COUNTY U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
  • Location: CLALLAM COUNTY, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES; PORT ANGELES, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES; SEQUIM, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES; JOYCE, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES; DUNGENESS, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
  • City: CLALLAM COUNTY, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES; PORT ANGELES, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES; SEQUIM, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES; JOYCE, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES; DUNGENESS, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: North America,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA002242416102024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Thousands of miles away from the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. lies Clallam County in northwest Washington state, the county that holds the distinction of being America’s last bellwether for the U.S. Presidential election.
    In politics, a bellwether is a leading indicator of a trend or a shift, usually referring to a state or county that can be used to predict how other areas will vote.
    The county, which spreads east to west across the northern most part of the Olympic Peninsula and can be seen from Canada on a clear day, has successfully chosen the president of the United States since Ronald Reagan in 1980.
    "I don't know how they're getting it right,” said Republican Women of Clallam County President Sandra Lytle of Port Angeles, while volunteering at the county’s Republican headquarters. “I guess just get some good people on both sides of the aisle, that I guess like to call it the way they see it."
    In 40 years of presidential elections, voters have picked six Republicans and five Democrats for the country’s commander in chief.
    During a recent visit by Reuters to Clallam County, residents hypothesized why this unique political phenomenon has endured all these years. The overarching theme is that the most rural areas skew Republican while the more populated parts of the county turn towards Democrats.
    “The west end of our county is more forest products, industry, and land-related economics. And the east side of our county is more retirement driven.” said retiree and independent voter Peter Craig of Sequim of the cross county political division. “I don’t think that anyone goes out certain to try to get it right, I just think they vote the interest they have and the population equation works out—so that’s how it’s been rolling.”
    At a weekly farmer’s market in Port Angeles, Texas transplant and Democrat turned Republican Jules Gallaty sees the county as a melting pot where people accepts each other regardless of political beliefs.
    “I’m not going to not buy your product because you’re a Democrat or Republican,” Gallaty said. “That doesn’t even cross people’s minds I don’t think.”
    When voters in the county were asked about what remains most important to them when choosing either Trump or Harris for President, echoes of issues in the key battleground states where elections will likely be decided, rose to the top with the economy, immigration, and women’s rights mentioned regularly by residents.
    In the town of Sequim, hundreds of county residents marched along the sidewalk chanting “We’re not going back,” repeatedly and waving signs as part of a Women’s March devoted to Kamala Harris. While many honked in support of the crowd, some drivers yelled and made obscene gestures towards them from passing vehicles.
    “Socially it stands a little static until an election comes and then we’re galvanized.” said Donna Maclean, a retiree from San Francisco and long time supporter of Harris, now living in the small town.
    Down the road in the tiny forested community of Joyce, Paul Stoican was rounding up his German Shepherds as a ‘Trump 2024: Take America Back’ flag waved in the wind.
    “I wondered myself what could make some phenomenon like that happen, because apparently they’ve been accurate. But how? I don’t know.”
    Residents will have to wait until after Nov. 5 to find out if Clallam County’s presidential politics picking streak, unmatched by the other 3,142 counties in the United States, will be broken this time around.
    (Production: Matt M. McKnight)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: WARNING: Editors please note, this clip contains graphic material
Register