Washington’s Clallam County likely to lose status as presidential bellwether

In Western Washington, Clallam County has likely lost its 40 year streak as a bellwether for the presidential election.  While more votes are still being counted, the majority of Clallam votes tallied so far are for Vice President Kamala Harris.

That is not the story nationwide. The election has been called for former president Donald Trump.

One Harris voter and Clallam County resident, Donna Peterson, said she is feeling devastated about the national outcome. She spent a lot of the election night watching the results come in at the Democratic headquarters in the county. 

“I was just shocked,” Peterson said. “I could feel that all this hope that we had coming into it very quickly wasn’t there. It just seemed like, very quickly, it left. It was like a balloon deflating.”

Peterson said she left the headquarters around 10 p.m. and continued to watch results come in at home.

“I barely slept last night, and I would wake up and turn on the phone,” Peterson said, tearing up. “And then I would start crying. It was a little different last time and it’s like, I feel like my country is going to die a slow death.”

The mood was very different at the Republican county headquarters, where Trump supporter Pam Blakeman watched the results come in. 

“We were told it was going to be tight, but obviously it wasn’t quite that tight,” Blakeman said. It looks like [Republicans] might have the Senate and the House too, which I actually appreciate a balance of power, but since I live in a blue state, that’s going to be my balance.”

Clallam County has trended blue in recent local, state and federal elections, lining up with the majority of Washington voters. Still, the county has been looked to as a place of political diversity, given its trend of voting for the president-elect since 1980.

In community, Peterson said she has had good interactions with Republicans. But last weekend, as she walked in the county’s Women’s March, she said young men were yelling hateful remarks at those marching. 

“Mostly where I live is a really good place to be, but as far as the rest of the country, I don’t understand what motivates, why hate is driving so much,” Peterson said. 

She is worried about the rights of LGBTQ+ people as well as access to contraceptives for women. 

Blakeman is feeling very happy with the result, however.

“I hope the nightmares that are anticipated by the Democrats there, I hope they will open their eyes and discover it’s not happening,” Blakeman said “It’s pretty hard to break through people’s fixed thinkings.”

With results coming in so quickly, Blakeman, who is the chair of the Clallam County Republican Party, said she thinks people’s anxieties will be lessened about election integrity. 

“I have a sense of relief that it did not break out into total chaos as the results came out and yes, the results came out faster than I was anticipating,” Blakeman said.

Results are still not official in some states.

Both Peterson and Blakeman intend to continue going to political discussion group meetings in the county. 

“We’re going to be helping each other through this because that’s all we can do, we got to help each other,” Peterson said. “I truly don’t know how to handle it. I’m looking around at some of my other friends, my sisters and they’re even more devastated than me and we don’t know how to handle it. So, we need each other now.”