Editing Whitman County, Washington (section)

==Politics==
Despite the county historically voting for [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]], Whitman County has a reputation as being far more socially liberal than other counties in Eastern Washington due to the presence of [[Washington State University]] in Pullman. It is part of [[Washington's 5th congressional district]] and is represented by Republican [[Michael Baumgartner]]. Quite conservative, rural Whitman was one of only three counties in the state to be won by [[Barry Goldwater]] in [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]]. [[Richard Nixon]], [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Bill Clinton]], and [[George W. Bush]] each won the county twice.

In [[2008 United States presidential election|2008]], [[Barack Obama]] received 51.57% of the Whitman County vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/comparemaps.php?year=1964&fips=53&f=1&off=0&elect=0|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - Compare Maps|work=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=March 7, 2015}}</ref> In 2012, he received 46.9% of the vote, with Mitt Romney winning with a 49.7% plurality.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://seattletimes.com/flatpages/politics/2012-washington-election-results.html|title=2012 Washington state election results|work=The Seattle Times|access-date=March 7, 2015}}</ref> Whitman was the only county in eastern Washington to approve same-sex marriage via Referendum 74. It was the only county to vote in favor of Referendum 74 while voting for the Republican candidate for president. Whitman County voters also approved marijuana legalization via Initiative 502.

By 2016, the county was considered Democratic in regard to federal elections. [[Hillary Clinton]] won the county in 2016 and also voted for [[Patty Murray]] in 2016. However, Republican [[Bill Bryant (politician)|Bill Bryant]] won this county over incumbent Democrat [[Jay Inslee]] by a percentage point in the [[2016 Washington gubernatorial election|concurrent gubernatorial election]]. In the 2020 elections, the majority of the county voted for Democrat [[Joe Biden]] for president and re-elected Inslee for governor. Both received majority of the county vote with Inslee becoming the first Democratic gubernatorial candidate to win a county in [[Eastern Washington]] since [[Gary Locke]] in [[2000 Washington gubernatorial election|2000]]. However, the county still votes Republican in [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House]] elections.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Leadingham|first=Scott|date=November 19, 2020|title=Incumbent's Advantage: Why Whitman County Votes For Biden And Inslee, But GOP For Congress|url=https://www.nwpb.org/2020/11/19/incumbents-advantage-why-whitman-county-votes-for-biden-and-inslee-but-gop-for-congress/|access-date=August 24, 2021|website=Northwest Public Broadcasting|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2020, 52.9% of residents voted for Biden while 42.9% voted for Trump, a 10% margin for Biden.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/washington/|title=Live election results: 2020 Washington results|author=Steven Shepard|website=Politico.com|access-date=December 13, 2021}}</ref>

The county was one of two in [[Eastern Washington]] to vote for [[2018 Washington Initiative 1639]], which strengthened gun laws, along with neighboring [[Spokane  County, Washington|Spokane County]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20181106/State-Measures-Initiative-Measure-No-1639-Initiative-Measure-No-1639-concerns-firearms_ByCounty.html | title=November 6, 2018 General Election Results - Initiative Measure No. 1639 Initiative Measure No. 1639 concerns firearms. County Breakdown }}</ref>

{{PresHead|place=Whitman County, Washington|whig=no|source1=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=April 10, 2018}}</ref>|source2=<ref>The leading "other" candidate, [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressive]] [[Theodore Roosevelt]], received 3,061 votes, while Socialist candidate [[Eugene V. Debs|Eugene Debs]] received 631 votes, [[Prohibition Party|Prohibition]] candidate [[Eugene W. Chafin|Eugene Chafin]] received 617 votes, and [[Socialist Labor Party of America|Socialist Labor]] candidate [[Arthur Reimer]] received 24 votes.</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP/Whig vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|8,699|10,480|848|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|9,067|11,184|875|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|7,403|8,146|2,479|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|8,507|8,037|726|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|8,104|9,070|415|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|9,397|8,287|328|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|9,003|6,509|725|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|6,734|7,262|1,899|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|6,428|7,637|3,413|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|7,680|7,403|250|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|10,021|6,621|207|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|8,636|5,726|2,662|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|8,168|6,197|703|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|9,548|6,248|470|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|7,810|5,218|761|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1964|Republican|6,765|6,760|13|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|8,069|5,458|17|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|8,572|4,854|8|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|8,905|4,611|44|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1948|Republican|6,411|6,015|314|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|6,000|5,449|41|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|6,356|6,351|92|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|3,955|7,753|265|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|4,727|5,945|339|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|7,065|2,969|67|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|4,960|1,745|2,811|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|6,344|2,806|659|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|4,933|5,888|430|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|1,989|3,621|4,333|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|3,376|2,386|656|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|4,090|1,519|543|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|2,366|2,826|373|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|1,592|3,690|85|Washington}}
{{PresFoot|1892|Republican|2,131|2,061|1,517|Washington}}