PORTLAND, Ore. — The destination of Oregon and Washington's electoral votes may have been a foregone conclusion Tuesday night, but it can be illuminating to see how voters leaned by location. That's particularly true for heated congressional races like Washington's 3rd District and Oregon's 5th District, which remain too close to call.
Unsurprisingly, Oregon's eight and Washington's 12 electoral votes both went to Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. Both states have reliably gone to Democrats since the late 1980s. Like most states, both Oregon and Washington have a winner-take-all system, where a plurality of the vote is enough for a candidate to earn all electoral votes for the state.
But in both states, the vast majority of Democratic voters cluster around their urban areas. Rural areas tend to vote Republican, and they lack the numbers to outdo Democrats in the statewide vote when all is said and done.
Below are interactive maps you can search county-by-county. Hover over areas to see vote tallies.
Oregon - U.S. president
Washington - U.S. president
Two races for Congress were being watched closely this election at the national level, as both parties vie for control of the U.S. House: Oregon's 5th Congressional District and Washington's 3rd Congressional District.
In the former, freshman Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer faced a challenge from Democrat Janelle Bynum, a state lawmaker. Though the 5th District has a strong reservoir of Democratic voters — more than there are registered Republicans — Chavez-DeRemer managed an upset win in 2022 to flip the district red. Democrats have banked on someone like Bynum flipping the seat back.
Oregon - 5th Congressional District
Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez was in a similar situation to Chavez-DeRemer in southwest Washington. She flipped the longtime Republican seat blue in 2022, running against Trump-endorsed Republican Joe Kent. It was a narrow victory, separated by less than 3,000 votes, and Kent attempted to close that gap this year in a rematch of their last bout.
