Editing Jefferson County, Washington (section)

==Politics==
[[Image:Port Townsend Bay.jpg|right|thumb|Port Townsend Bay as seen from a ferry]]
[[File:US 101 Jefferson County.JPG|thumb|US Route 101 in Jefferson County]]
Jefferson County is a dominant [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] area, with Democrats having carried the county in every election cycle since [[Ronald Reagan]]'s landslide victory in [[1980 United States presidential election|1980]]. In [[1984 United States presidential election in Washington (state)|1984]], [[Walter Mondale]] narrowly won Jefferson County over Reagan by 0.63%, and since then the county has become strongly Democratic. In 2024, Jefferson County swung even more Democratic, with [[Kamala Harris]] winning the county with 70.69% of its vote to [[Donald Trump]]'s 25.61%. {{As of|2024}} the county is located in [[Washington's 6th congressional district]] and in the 24th of [[Washington state legislative districts]].

Because of the [[Olympic Mountains|barrier dividing the county]], the populations and economies differ between the eastern and western halves of Jefferson County. The contrasts are notable as the west portion is more dependent on [[logging]], somewhat less prosperous, and having fewer people for roughly the same area. Areas of East Jefferson County located south of Port Townsend remain largely rural and can be divided into two parts, those communities located on the Hood Canal and those on the Admiralty Inlet. Perennial discussions and attempts to separate the west half from the east half gained little support during the twentieth century.

The county seat, Port Townsend, casts a significant number of votes and gave Obama 82% of its votes in the 2012 presidential election. Areas outside of Port Townsend (such as Cape George) gave Obama 2-to-1 victory margins. Democrats also draw the most votes in many of the small towns of northern Jefferson County, with strong Democratic leans in Coyle, Discovery Bay, Gardiner, and Nordland, as well as in the towns just southeast of Port Townsend such as Chimacum, [[Irondale, Washington|Irondale]], [[Kala Point, Washington|Kala Point]], and Port Hadlock. Democrats also perform strongly in the sparsely populated western part of the county, where much of the population is Native American.

{{PresHead|place=Jefferson County, Washington|whig=no|source1=<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections |url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ |access-date=December 10, 2018 |website=uselectionatlas.org}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP/Whig vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|6,324|17,459|915|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|6,931|17,204|657|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|6,037|12,656|2,186|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|6,405|12,739|817|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|6,330|13,252|541|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|6,650|11,610|390|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|6,095|8,281|1,457|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|4,607|7,145|2,367|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|3,467|6,148|3,327|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|4,184|5,270|182|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|4,543|4,602|189|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|3,645|3,279|1,246|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|2,794|2,913|385|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|2,770|2,096|313|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|1,827|2,251|427|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|1,432|3,012|12|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|2,103|2,197|7|Washington (state)}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|2,300|1,750|7|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|2,355|1,933|17|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|1,610|1,911|155|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|1,415|1,829|18|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|1,540|2,083|32|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|1,063|2,279|83|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|952|1,994|321|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|1,472|810|24|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|913|143|707|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|1,128|322|382|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|1,094|861|157|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1912|Progressive|636|642|1,048|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|859|417|84|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|962|283|62|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|684|392|32|Washington}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|704|536|10|Washington}}
{{PresFoot|1892|Democratic|610|665|116|Washington}}