ELECTION RESULTS We could have been talking about how women, and the 168-year-long spirit of the suffragette movement, carried Hillary Clinton over the finish line — a historic victory that would break the thickest glass ceiling in the world. The raw emotion and political intensity of those women would have been a power never before seen in American politics — the power of the pantsuit writ large all across the Electoral College map. We could also have been talking about how, over the past 17 months, we watched as Donald Trump stormed the cockpit, sent the experienced pilots back to coach and took the controls of the Republican Party. How he expertly manipulated the media and tapped into a raw nerve of anger in America. And around 11:30 pm Tuesday night, just as this newspaper was going to press, Hillary Clinton conceded after the Associated Press called the election. Donald Trump will be sworn in as president come January. Here’s a look back at a campaign we’ll never forget.
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linton played her Woman Card, and that card had two sides — both powerful in their own way. Of course Clinton attracted support from women wanting to make history — women who were also sold on her impressive background. But even women less than excited by the prospect of another Clinton in the White House joined the fray. Sure, most women can relate to Clinton’s very public, 40-year struggle with double standards, but her tent got even bigger because she had women voting either mostly for her or mostly against Trump. In the end, women came out for Hillary Clinton in big numbers — but not quite as big as expected. Not only were the majority of her donors women (a first), a CBS/New York Times poll taken just before the election also showed Clinton leading Trump, 50-36, among all women. Yet according to exit polling reported by ABC News, the actual margin was 12 points, not 14. The polling was way off, and that will be a big story in the days to come. Polls leading up to Election Day showed a Clinton lead bigger than the one President Obama had over Mitt Romney in 2012. It seemed like the election would be competitive, but not close. Then results started rolling in. Florida fell to Trump. Then Ohio. And North Carolina. The dream of taking the Senate died, and Pennsylvania — Clinton’s firewall state — went to Trump, and soon after the White House with it. You could say that Election 2016 was about the split between urban and rural America, but you could also say it was about gender. While Clinton won women by 12 points, Trump won men by 12. In the end, lots of women came out to support their candidate, but not quite as many as they had hoped. It wasn’t enough.
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rump, meanwhile, proved all the conventional political wisdom in the world wrong. Turns out, you can tell voters that, “This country is a hellhole” and get elected president. You can say the dictator of Russia is a better leader than America’s president and get elected. You can lie constantly, as documented by armies of fact-checkers, and get elected. You can even say horrible things about women, including being accused by a dozen women of doing horrible things to them, and get elected president of the United States of America. Trump was the Teflon candidate. Trump seemed a particularly vulnerable opponent for a woman, since his history of sexism had been well known since the 1980s. And as the campaign went on, he dug himself deeper by attacking Rosie O’Donnell, a former Miss Universe and even Megyn Kelly of Fox News. Notably, it was Kelly who kicked Trump right in his Achilles’ heel in the very first debate, asking him why he’s so degrading to women. In response, he attacked her, suggesting she was probably just menstruating. His woman problem got much worse after the release of Trump’s sex-predator confessional tape with Billy Bush — and the stream of women who publicly accused him of doing exactly what he said he did on the video. Eventually, Trump turned his misogyny on Clinton, questioning whether a woman would have the stamina to be president, calling her a “nasty woman” and even judging her sex appeal at one point. None of these tactics earned him any support from women — but, perhaps, it may have drawn enough men to Trump’s take-no-prisoners manliness. Without anything resembling a traditional campaign apparatus, Trump overcame his many shortcomings as a candidate. He lost all three debates and barely understood key issues — as recently as last month, he didn’t even know how the Affordable Care Act worked. His refusal to release his taxes was disqualifying for many voters. Not knowing that Russia invaded the Crimea and his pallin’ around with Vladimir Putin sent the foreign policy establishment (mostly conservatives) running across enemy lines to the Clinton camp. Patriotic voters were alarmed when he claimed that our military is “a disaster” and John McCain was not a hero, and when he wondered why we have nuclear weapons if we don’t use them. ...continued on next page
SCORECARD U.S. President Hillary Clinton (D): 47%, 218 electoral votes DONALD J. TRUMP (R): 48%, 276 electoral votes
Initiative Measure No. 1491 (Extreme-risk protection orders for removing guns) YES: 71.18%, 1,372,718 No: 28.82%, 555,853
WASHINGTON
Initiative Measure No. 1501 (Identity theft and open-records measure) YES: 71.59%, 1,365,428 No: 28.41%, 541,792
U.S. Senator PATTY MURRAY (D): 60.81%, 1,183,089 Chris Vance (R): 39.19%, 762,461 U.S. Representative, Congressional District 5 CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS (R): 58.32%, 117,287 Joe Pakootas (D): 41.68%, 83,812
Initiative Measure No. 1464 (Campaign finance) Yes: 47.43%, 871,658 NO: 52.57%, 966,213
Governor JAY INSLEE (D): 56.32%, 1,094,123 Bill Bryant (R): 43.68%, 848,681
Supreme Court Justice Pos. 1 MARY YU: 58.53%, 979,792 David DeWolf: 41.47%, 694,122
State Commissioner of Public Lands Steve McLaughlin (R): 45.1%, 836,703 HILARY FRANZ (D): 54.9%, 1,018,495
Supreme Court Justice Pos. 5 BARBARA MADSEN: 63.69%, 1,052,939 Greg Zempel: 36.31%, 600,176
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Erin Jones: 48.84%, 784,961 CHRIS REYKDAL: 51.16%, 822,184
Supreme Court Justice Pos. 6 CHARLIE WIGGINS: 58.32%, 948,796 Dave Larson: 41.68%, 678,215
State Senator, District 3 ANDY BILLIG (D): 70.03%, 22,034 James R. Apker (L): 9.97%, 9,4292
County Commissioner District 1 Candace Mumm (D): 47.57%, 66,405 JOSH KERNS (R): 52.24%, 72,929
SPOKANE COUNTY
State Representative, District 3 MARCUS RICCELLI (D): 69.77%, 21,767 Randy McGlenn II (L): 30.23%, 9,429
County Commissioner District 2 SHELLY O’QUINN (R): 60.18%, 83,661 Andrew Biviano (D): 39.67%, 55,147
State Representative, District 3 TIMM ORMSBY (D): 64.44%, 20,746 Laura Carder (R): 35.56%, 11,449
Spokane Transit Authority Proposition No. 1 (sales tax) APPROVED: 55.41%, 62,344 Rejected: 44.59%, 50,177
State Representative, District 4 MATT SHEA (R): 62.4%, 27,334 Scott V. Stucker (D): 37.6%, 16,471 State Representative, District 6 Lynnette Vehrs (D): 46.27%, 20,161 MIKE VOLZ (R): 53.73%, 23,408 State Representative, District 6 JEFF HOLY (R): 60.99%, 26,617 Shar Lichty (D): 39.01%, 17,027 Initiative Measure No. 732 (carbon tax) Yes: 41.45%, 771,623 NO: 58.55%, 1,090,123
Spokane Superior Court Judge Pos. 10 LINDA TOMPKINS: 61.50%, 77,175 Ward Andrews: 38.09%, 47,797 Spokane Superior Court Judge Pos. 11 Greg Sypolt: 45.89%, 56,880 TIM FENNESSY: 53.60%, 66,438
IDAHO
U.S. Senator MIKE CRAPO (R): 61.7%, 116,642 Jerry Sturgill (D): 32.3%, 61,029 Ray J. Writz (C): 6.0%, 11,311
Initiative Measure No. 735 (Citizens United) YES: 63.82%, 1,175,116 No: 36.18%, 666,269
U.S. Representative, Congressional District 1 RAUL R. LABRADOR (R): 66.5%, 44,356 James Piotrowski (D): 33.5%, 22,384
Initiative Measure No. 1433 (Minimum wage) YES: 59.48%, 1,142,984 No: 40.52%, 778,685
All results current as of 10 pm, Tuesday, Nov. 8. Visit Inlander.com for the latest news.
NOVEMBER 10, 2016 INLANDER 21