2020 Washington gubernatorial election
November 3, 2020
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Inslee: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Culp: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tie: 40–50% 50% No data | ||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Washington (state) |
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The 2020 Washington gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020. It followed a top-two primary held on August 4. Incumbent Governor Jay Inslee, the Democratic candidate, defeated Loren Culp, the Republican candidate by a wide margin. Inslee, who was eligible to run for a third term due to the lack of gubernatorial term limits, initially launched a campaign for president of the United States in the 2020 election. When he dropped out of that race in August 2019 due to extremely low polling numbers, he announced he would seek a third term as governor. Several other Democratic political figures considered entering the race if Inslee did not run, including Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson; no other major Democratic candidates entered the race. Republican Loren Culp, the police chief of Republic, Washington, placed second in the top-two primary and advanced to the general election alongside Inslee.
The election was clear and decisive, with Inslee winning re-election over Culp by over 13 points. This marked the largest margin of victory in a Washington gubernatorial race since Gary Locke won reelection in 2000. Inslee's landslide victory included him winning over 74% of the vote in King County, the highest for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in the county's history. King County, home to Seattle, has about a third of the state's voters. In addition, Inslee became the first Democratic gubernatorial candidate since the aforementioned Locke in 2000 to win any county in Eastern Washington, specifically Whitman County. Culp still ran ahead of the top-ticket presidential candidate, Donald Trump, by about four points.
Despite the margin of victory, Culp refused to concede and filed a lawsuit against Republican Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman five weeks after the election. He did not give a concession speech, while making claims of irregularities which Wyman characterized as "unsubstantiated". Culp's actions drew criticism and were compared to Donald Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
This election marked the tenth consecutive victory of the Democratic candidate for governor of Washington.