2016 United States elections
The 2016 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, while Republicans retained control of Congress. This marked the first (and, as of 2020, most recent) time Republicans won or held unified control of the presidency and Congress since 2004. Trump won his party's nomination after defeating Ted Cruz and several other candidates in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries. With Democratic president Barack Obama term-limited, Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries. Trump  won the general election with 304 of the 538 electoral votes, though Clinton won the popular vote by a margin of 2.1 percentage points (2,868,686 votes). The United States government's intelligence agencies later concluded that the Russian government had interfered in the elections. Wall Street banks and other big financial institutions spent a record $2 billion trying to influence the 2016 United States elections. Democrats won a net gain of two seats in the Senate and six seats in the House of Representatives, but Republicans retained control of both chambers. In the gubernatorial elections, Republicans won a net  gain of two seats. Various other state, territorial, and local races and referenda were held throughout the year. Federal elections. Presidential election. The United States presidential election of 2016 was the 58th quadrennial presidential election. The electoral vote distribution was determined by the 2010 census from which presidential electors electing the president and vice president were chosen; a simple majority (270) of the 538 electoral votes were required to win. In one of the greatest election upsets in U.S. History, businessman and reality television personality Donald Trump of New York won the Republican Party's presidential nomination on July 19 , 2016, after defeating Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Ohio Governor John Kasich, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and several other candidates in the Republican primary elections. Former Secretary of State, First Lady and New York Senator Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on July 26, 2016, after defeating Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and others in the Democratic primary elections. This was the first election with a female presidential nominee from a major political party, as well as the first election since 1944 that had major party presidential nominees from the same home state. Clinton won the popular vote, taking  48% of the vote compared to Trump's 46% of the vote, but Trump won the electoral vote and thus the presidency. Libertarian Gary Johnson won 3.3% of the popular vote, the strongest performance by a third party presidential nominee since the 1996 election. Trump won the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, and Iowa, all of which were won by Obama in 2008 and 2012. The election is one of five presidential elections in American history in which the winner of the popular vote did not win the presidency. Russian interference. The United States government's intelligence agencies  concluded the Russian government interfered in the 2016 United States elections. A joint US intelligence review stated with high confidence that, "Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. In May 2019, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Russians hacked voting databases in two Florida counties prior to the 2016 presidential election and no election results were compromised. Congressional elections. Senate elections. All seats in Senate Class 3 were up for election. Democrats won a net gain of two seats, but Republicans retained a majority with 52 seats in the 100-member  chamber. House of Representatives elections. All 435 voting seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election. Additionally, elections were held to select the delegates for the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories, including the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. Democrats won a net gain of six seats, but Republicans held a 241-to-194 majority following the elections. Nationwide, Republicans won the popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 1.1 percent. State elections. Gubernatorial elections. Regular elections were held for the governorships of 11 U.S. states and two U.S. territories. Additionally, a  special election was held in Oregon after the resignation of John Kitzhaber as governor. Republicans won a net gain of two seats. Legislative elections. In 2016, 44 states held state legislative elections; 86 of the 99 chambers were up for election. Only six states did not hold state legislative elections: Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Virginia, Alabama, and Maryland. Other elections and ballot measures. Many states also held elections for other elected offices, such as attorney general. Many states held ballot measures. Local elections. Mayoral elections. Mayoral elections were held in many cities, including: Table of state, territorial, and federal results . This table shows the partisan results of Congressional, gubernatorial, presidential, and state legislative races held in each state and territory in 2016. Note that not all states and territories hold gubernatorial, state legislative, and United States Senate elections in 2016; additionally, the territories do not have electoral votes in American presidential elections, and neither Washington, D.C. nor the territories elect members of the United States Senate. Washington, D.C., and the five inhabited territories each elect one non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives. Nebraska's unicameral legislature and the governorship and legislature of American Samoa are officially  non-partisan. In the table, offices/legislatures that are not up for election in 2016 are already filled in for the "after 2016 elections" section, although vacancies or party switching could potentially lead to a flip in partisan control.