Republicans turn out in greater number than Democrats in GH/Pacific counties

Republicans in Grays Harbor and Pacific counties turned out in greater numbers than Democrats as of Election Night.

Both counties saw the majority of Republican voters indicating support for former President Donald Trump as opposed to the amount of Democrats in support of President Biden.

In addition, more Republican voters took part in their Presidential Primary than Democrats this year.

Both counties saw nearly identical turnouts as far as percentages for the candidates included in the primary.

While ballots within Washington included numerous candidates who have suspended their campaigns, leaving only the two presumptive nominees leading both party totals. 

While the total votes for the top candidates saw the most votes overall, President Biden saw more of a unified party with almost 88% of votes out of the field of Democrats, while Trump garnered approximately 79% support from his party.

While no other Democrats on the ticket earned more than 4% of the vote locally, Nikki Haley saw the greatest percentage of votes for a candidate who has suspended their campaign at nearly 17% in both counties.

Based solely on Election Night figures and individual party turnout for their candidates, Republican voters outnumbered Democrats in both counties by similar percentages.

Between the two counties, the turnout showed 58.1% of the total turnout of Republican voters compared to 41.9% Democrat.

These figures are a diametric opposite to the 2020 Presidential Primary, when both candidates again won their party vote, although the total Democrat vote featured greater division with Bernie Sanders and multiple other challengers. In 2020, based on total turnout the counties had a 56.8% Democrat to 43.2% Republican.

Notably, Grays Harbor Democrats in 2024 saw only 28% of the turnout they saw in 2020 at certification and 33% of Pacific totals. Between the counties, this was a difference of 16,421 in 2020 who voted to 7,013 counted as of Tuesday.

Republicans also saw decreased numbers overall, with a 42% turnout for Grays Harbor as compared to 2020 and 47% in Pacific. 12,473 were tallied in 2020 against 9,727 counted on Election Night.

Only 22.9% of Grays Harbor voters chose to participate in the Presidential Primary in initial counts, while 32.9% of Pacific County voters declared their party affiliation and submitted their ballot ahead of Election Night.

Statewide, more Democrats turned out than Republicans for the election, with 653,588 Democrat votes, according to the Secretary of State results, and 599,055 Republicans. As a state, President Biden saw 559,996 total votes to former President Trump’s 442,048.

Additional ballots will be counted over the coming weeks with final results certified on March 26, 2024.