page_title: Jefferson County, Washington
section_title: Politics
hierarchical_section_title: Jefferson County, Washington / Politics
caption_attribution_description: English: US 101 in Jefferson County, Washington, Olympic National Park
context_page_description: Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,872. The county seat and only incorporated city is Port Townsend. The county is named for Thomas Jefferson.
  Jefferson County was formed out of Thurston County on December 22, 1852, by the legislature of Oregon Territory, and included the northern 4,854 square miles portion of the Olympic Peninsula. On April 26, 1854, the legislature of Washington Territory created Clallam County from the northwestern 2,670 square miles portion of this original area.
  The Hood Canal Bridge connects Jefferson County to Kitsap County, Washington. The Coupeville-Port Townsend route of the Washington State Ferries connects the county to Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington.
context_section_description: Jefferson County is a staunchly Democratic area, with Democrats having carried the county in every election cycle since Ronald Reagan's landslide victory in 1980. In 2016, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won the county 60.62% to Donald Trump's 28.91%. As of 2020 it is located in Washington's 6th congressional district and in the 24th of Washington state legislative districts.
  The communities in the eastern and western halves of Jefferson County tend to not mingle much, because of the barrier dividing the county. The communities also differ in amount and sources of family income, and population size and density, with the west being 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.
  County seat Port Townsend casts a significant number of votes and gave Obama 82% of its votes in the 2012 General Election (source:  www.wa.gov). Areas outside of Port Townsend (such as Cape George) gave Obama 2-to-1 victory margins. Democrats also do well 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 (Chimacum, Irondale, 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.
  Republicans tend to win victories in several parts of the county, particularly the rural areas in the southeast part of the county including Center, Crocker Lake, Brinnon, and Quilcene. Although it has trended Democratic in recent years, Port Ludlow — an affluent area that casts a notable number of votes — still has a Republican lean.
  Presidential elections results
caption: US Route 101 in Jefferson County
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