The 2008 United States presidential election in the District of Columbia took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. In D.C., voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Prior to the election, the nation's capital was considered to be a certain lock for Obama. Washington D.C. is fiercely Democratic and has voted for the Democratic candidate in every presidential election by large margins since 1964 when the District gained the right to electoral representation through the 23rd amendment.
The District of Columbia went to Democrat Barack Obama by a margin of 210,403 votes out of 225,224 votes cast, about 92% of the total vote. As of 2024, this remains the largest share of the popular vote ever won by any candidate in the District of Columbia since it was granted electoral votes in 1961. This was larger than John Kerry's in 2004, when he won the District with about 89% of the vote.
Obama received the largest vote share for a major party nominee in any jurisdiction since Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1940 United States presidential election in Mississippi.
Primaries 2008 District of Columbia Democratic primary 2008 District of Columbia Republican primary
Campaign Predictions 16 news organizations made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:
+SourceRankingD.C. Political ReportCook Political ReportThe TakeawayElectoral-vote.comWashington PostBased on TakeawayPoliticoRealClearPoliticsFiveThirtyEightCQ PoliticsThe New York TimesCNNNPRMSNBCFox NewsAssociated PressRasmussen Reports
Results 2008 United States presidential election in the District of ColumbiaPartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden245,80092.46%3 Republican John McCain Sarah Palin17,3676.53%0 Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez958 0.36% 0 Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente5900.22%0 N/A Write-ins N/A 1,138 0.43% 0 Totals 265,853 100.00% 3 Voter turnout 53.51% —
Bob Barr was certified as a write-in in the District of Columbia, but votes for him were not counted. Litigation is ongoing to have the votes counted.
By ward WardBarack ObamaDemocraticJohn McCainRepublicanOther candidatesVarious partiesMarginTotal votescast#%#%#%#%Ward 128,97793.39%1,5995.15%4531.46%27,37888.24%31,029Ward 224,86585.88%3,61912.50%4681.62%21,24673.38%28,952Ward 330,49182.79%5,73715.58%6031.64%24,75467.21%36,831Ward 434,72095.40%1,3953.83%2800.76%33,32591.57%36,395Ward 533,25996.74%8872.58%2330.68%32,37294.16%34,379Ward 631,03188.64%3,51810.05%4571.31%27,51378.59%35,006Ward 733,66398.72%3120.91%1250.36%33,35197.81%34,100Ward 827,39499.02%2100.76%610.22%27,18498.26%27,665Total244,40092.46%17,2776.53%2,6801.01%227,12385.93%264,357
Electors
Technically the voters of D.C. cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. D.C. is allocated three electors. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of three electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all three electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than their candidate is known as a faithless elector.
The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All three were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:District of Columbia Certificate of Ascertainment, page 1 of 2.. National Archives and Records Administration. Muriel Bowser Jerry S. Cooper Vincent C. Gray
See also United States presidential elections in the District of Columbia
References