The 2008 gubernatorial election in Washington was held on November 4, 2008. Republican
Dino Rossi
Dino John Rossi (born October 15, 1959) is an American businessman and politician who served as a Washington State Senate, Washington State Senator thrice, from 1997 to 2003, in 2012, and again from 2016 to 2017. A Republican Party (United States ...
and incumbent Democratic Governor
Christine Gregoire
Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and again ...
emerged from the August 19 primary. This made the 2008 election a rematch between the candidates from the
2004 election, the closest gubernatorial election in the state's history. In contrast to the recounts and months of legal challenges in their previous contest, Gregoire was the clear winner on November 5, earning 53 percent of the vote. With a margin of 6.45%, this election was the second-closest race of the
2008 gubernatorial election cycle, behind only
the election in North Carolina.
Timeline
Candidates
, -
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" valign=top, Candidate
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Stated party preference
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Website
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Notes
, -
,
Christine Gregoire
Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and again ...
, , Prefers
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
,
cw, , Incumbent governor
, -
,
Dino Rossi
Dino John Rossi (born October 15, 1959) is an American businessman and politician who served as a Washington State Senate, Washington State Senator thrice, from 1997 to 2003, in 2012, and again from 2016 to 2017. A Republican Party (United States ...
, , Prefers
G.O.P. Party ,
cw, , Ex-state senator, 2004 gubernatorial nominee
, -
, Will Baker , , Prefers
Reform Party ,
cw, , Out; lost primary
, -
, Duff Badgley , , Prefers
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
,
cw, , Out; lost primary
, -
, John W. Aiken Jr. , , Prefers
Republican Party ,
cw, , Out; lost primary
, -
, Christian Pierre Joubert , , Prefers
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
,
cw, , Out; lost primary
, -
,
Chris Tudor , , States No Party Preference ,
cw, , Out; lost primary
, -
, Javier O. Lopez , , Prefers
Republican Party ,
cw, , Out; lost primary
, -
, Mohammad Hasan Said , , States No Party Preference ,
cw, , Out; lost primary
, -
, James White , , Prefers
Independent Party ,
cw, , Out; lost primary
, -
, colspan=4 align=left, Source
Secretary of State
Primary election
The Washington primary election was held August 19, 2008. For the first time, Washington ran a
top-two primary
A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party ...
, eliminating the "pick a party" primary used
since 2004. Unlike traditional primaries, wherein each party with more than one candidate is reduced to a single person to appear on the general election ballot, the system simply reduces the entire crop of candidates from all parties down to the top two candidates, resulting in no more than two candidates appearing on the general election ballot for a given position. As a result, candidates from all parties were essentially running against each other. To allow for ideological identification, each candidate in a partisan race was allowed to indicate an arbitrary party preference.
Controversy over Rossi's party preference
Under the changes to election law made by the passage of Initiative 872, partisan contests are no longer tied to registered parties, but candidates are allowed to indicate an arbitrary "party preference" to appear next to their name on the primary and general election ballots. An extreme example of this occurred in the 40th District race for state senator, where candidate Timothy Stoddard indicated a preference for the "Salmon Yoga" party.
Republican candidate
Dino Rossi
Dino John Rossi (born October 15, 1959) is an American businessman and politician who served as a Washington State Senate, Washington State Senator thrice, from 1997 to 2003, in 2012, and again from 2016 to 2017. A Republican Party (United States ...
listed his party preference as "G.O.P." instead of the traditional party name "
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
". Critics of Rossi contended that the choice of party name was an attempt to distance himself from any negative opinions associated with the Republican Party. Rossi's campaign argued that the difference was insignificant, saying voters are already aware that the terms refer to the same party. However, an
Elway Research
Elway Research, Inc.is a Seattle-based public opinion research firm. Since 1975, Elway Research has research projects for major corporations, media outlets, associations, foundations, campaigns and governmental agencies at all levels.
They pub ...
poll taken in August 2008 found that over 25% of registered voters were not aware that the term "GOP" meant the Republican Party.
On September 23, the Washington State Democrats, alleging that the latter is a misrepresentation of his true party affiliation, filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State to force the state to list Rossi to on the general election ballot as a Republican instead of with the "GOP Party" label. A
King County Superior Court
The Superior Court of Washington for King County (more commonly, the King County Superior Court) is the largest trial court in Washington state. It is based at the King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, in downtown Seattle, Washington. It als ...
judge dismissed the suit, saying nothing in state law made the choice of party name illegal, but he acknowledged the potential confusion. Had the lawsuit succeeded, many counties would have had to reprint their ballots, and the already-cast absentee votes of military personnel may have become invalid.
Primary results
While the primary was officially held on August 19, 2008, some counties such as
King County allow
absentee ballot
An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online votin ...
s to be
postmark
A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit. ...
ed by that date in order to be valid. As a result, the primary vote tally may not be officially certified until as late as September 9, to allow time for mailed-in ballots to arrive and be counted by the counties. As an increasing number of counties allow, encourage, or mandate mail-in ballots for voters within the county, the number of such ballots can be significant.
The vote tally as of October 10 is as follows:
General election
Christine Gregoire
Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and again ...
and
Dino Rossi
Dino John Rossi (born October 15, 1959) is an American businessman and politician who served as a Washington State Senate, Washington State Senator thrice, from 1997 to 2003, in 2012, and again from 2016 to 2017. A Republican Party (United States ...
were declared the winners of the primary and placed on the ballot for the November 4 election, which coincided with the national election. However, with all Washington counties either exclusively or (in the case of Pierce and King counties) predominantly voting via mail-in ballot, many votes were cast prior to that date. King County, the largest county in the state, and the one which carried Gregoire to victory in 2004, sent out overseas absentee ballots on October 5, and resident mail-in ballots on October 17.
In Washington state, mail-in ballots only need to be postmarked, not received, by November 4, meaning that valid ballots will continue to be received and counted after that date. For the 2008 election, counties had until November 26 to send results to the state, and the Secretary of State had until December 4 to certify all state results.
[
]
Predictions
Polling
;Aggregate polls
Police Guild press conference incident
At an August 7 press conference held by the Seattle Police Officers Guild to declare its endorsement of Rossi, the Guild forcibly removed Kelly Akers, a Gregoire campaign staffer who was filming the event, from the premises. The Rossi campaign reiterated a standing policy to prevent opposing campaigns from filming Rossi's appearances, to deny them the ability to take "attack footage." Rossi's campaign staff includes a cameraman tasked with filming Gregoire appearances.
Debates
Five debates were held
between Gregoire and Rossi, the candidates in the general election.
*The Spokane debate was taped in the morning to be aired at the indicated time. All other debates were held and aired live.
The Gregoire campaign had sought a sixth debate in Tacoma, sponsored by the ''Tacoma News-Tribune
''The News Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Tacoma, Washington. It is the second-largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington with a weekday circulation of 30,945 in 2020. With origins dating back to 1883, the newspaper w ...
''. The Rossi campaign instead sought a sixth debate in Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...
, sponsored by ''The Columbian
''The Columbian'' is a daily newspaper serving the Vancouver, Washington, and Clark County, Washington area. The paper was published for its first decade (1890–1900) as a four-page daily that was meant as a counterweight to the local Republic ...
''. The local Camas-Washougal Rotary Club
Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...
went so far as to reserve a venue for October 8. The campaigns could not agree on either event.
The Gregoire campaign had set aside August 15 for a pre-primary radio debate with Rossi on Seattle NPR station KUOW-FM
KUOW-FM (94.9 MHz) is a National Public Radio member station in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest of the three full-fledged NPR member stations in the Seattle and Tacoma media market, with two Tacoma-based stations, KNKX and KVTI being the ...
. Rossi declined to appear, giving Gregoire solo airtime.
Results
These are the gubernatorial election results as of 11/25/2008 10:45 PM PST.
Early declaration
Gregoire declared victory after late evening returns were posted, with 42% of the statewide vote counted, showing her with a 52% lead over Rossi. By 10:30 PM PST (1:30 AM EST) all five major television networks had called the race for Gregoire. The Rossi campaign called the networks' declarations "premature" and did not concede defeat that evening. Rossi held out hope that late ballots would carry him, as late returns had reversed an early Gregoire lead in 2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
. Rossi conceded the next morning.
Concession
Rossi conceded defeat in the gubernatorial election on November 5. In his concession speech, he indicated that he was not planning a return to politics.
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
*Cowlitz Cowlitz may refer to:
People
* Cowlitz people, an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest
** Cowlitz language, member of the Tsamosan branch of the Coast Salish family of Salishan languages
* Cowlitz Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe of ...
(largest city: Longview)
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
*Island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
(largest city: Oak Harbor)
* Kitsap (largest city: Bremerton
Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremer ...
)
*Pierce
Pierce may refer to:
Places Canada
* Pierce Range, a mountain range on Vancouver Island, British Columbia
United States
* Pierce, Colorado
* Pierce, Idaho
* Pierce, Illinois
* Pierce, Kentucky
* Pierce, Nebraska
* Pierce, Texas
* Pierce, We ...
(largest city: Tacoma)
* Skagit (largest city: Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...
)
Notes
References
External links
Elections
from the ''Washington Secretary of State''
Washington Governor candidates
at Project Vote Smart
Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...
Washington Governor race
from ''2008 Race Tracker''
Campaign contributions
from ''Follow the Money''
Rossi (R) vs Gregoire (D-i)
graph of collected poll results from ''Pollster.com''
*''Official campaign websites'' (Archived)
Christine Gregoire
Democratic incumbent candidate
Dino Rossi
Republican candidate
{{2008 United States elections
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
Gubernatorial
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...