District of Columbia

Washington, D.C., is the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties, the nation's major political organizations. The District itself is overwhelmingly Democratic: in 1992 and again in 1996, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton garnered an impressive 85% of the District's voters. Democrat Al Gore repeated this performance in 2000, capturing 85% of the vote to Republican candidate George W. Bush's 9% and Green Party candidate Ralph Nader's 5%. In fact, since 1964, when they were first permitted to vote for president, D.C. voters have unfailingly cast their ballots for the Democratic nominee. In 2002 there were 363,211 registered voters. As of 2003, the district had three electoral votes.

The first mayor, Walter Washington, was defeated for reelection in 1978 by Marion S. Barry, Jr., who was reelected in 1982 and again in 1986. Sharon Pratt Dixon was elected mayor in 1990. In 1994, Marion S. Barry Jr., returning to political life after serving a six-month jail term for a 1990 drug conviction, defeated Republican Carol Schwartz in the mayoral contest. Schwartz previously lost to Barry in the mayoral election of 1986. Anthony Williams was elected mayor in 1998 and reelected in 2002.

Eleanor Holmes Norton serves as the District's delegate to the House of Representatives.

D.C. Presidential Vote by Major Parties, 1964–2000

D.C. Presidential Vote by Major Parties, 1964–2000