2016 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania


The 2016 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States elections in which all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated. Pennsylvania voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote.
On April 26, 2016, in the presidential primaries, voters selected the Democratic, Republican, and Green parties' respective nominees for president. Pennsylvania is a closed primary state, meaning voters must have been previously registered with a particular political party in order to vote for one of that parties' candidates, to participate in their respective party primary.
The Republican party candidate was businessman Donald Trump who won Pennsylvania by 44,292 votes out of more than 6,000,000 cast, a difference of 0.72% and the narrowest margin in a presidential election for the state in 176 years, since 1840 when William Henry Harrison defeated Martin Van Buren by just 0.12%.
Prior to the election, Pennsylvania was expected to be close as polling showed the results within the margin of error. However, most election experts viewed Pennsylvania as solidly Clinton. On Election Day, Pennsylvania swung to Donald Trump. Trump carried 56 of the state's 67 counties, predominantly rural or semi-rural counties, while Clinton carried much of the Philadelphia metropolitan area as well as other cities including Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Scranton. Nonetheless, some areas of traditional Democratic strength such as Luzerne County, where Wilkes-Barre is located, saw swings in margins of up to 25% toward Donald Trump, making him the first Republican candidate for president to carry Pennsylvania since George H. W. Bush in 1988. 2016 would also be the first presidential election in which Pennsylvania voted to the right of the nation since 1948. Pennsylvania's vote for Donald Trump marked the fall of the Democratic Blue Wall, a block of over 240 electoral votes that voted solidly Democratic from 1992 to 2012.
Pennsylvania had been one of the eleven states to vote twice for Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 which Hillary Clinton lost in 2016.

Primaries

Democratic primary

Republican primary

Green Party

Pennsylvania held a series of caucuses throughout April, culminating with a meeting on April 30 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where delegates were assigned.

Democratic National Convention

From July 25 to July 28, 2016, Philadelphia hosted the 2016 Democratic National Convention. It was held at the Wells Fargo Center with ancillary meetings at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was elected as the party's nominee for president by a 59.67% majority of delegates present at the convention roll call, defeating primary rival Senator Bernie Sanders, who received 39.16% of votes from delegates, and becoming the first female candidate to be formally nominated by a major national party as a presidential candidate in the United States. Her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine, the junior United States Senator from Virginia was chosen by delegates as the party's nominee for vice president by acclamation.

General election

Predictions

  1. CNN: Leans Clinton
  2. Cook Political Report: Leans Clinton
  3. Electoral-vote.com: Leans Clinton
  4. NBC: Leans Clinton
  5. RealClearPolitics: Tossup
  6. Sabato's Crystal Ball: Leans Clinton

    Statewide results

By congressional district

Trump won 12 of 18 congressional districts, including the 17th district which elected a Democrat.
DistrictTrumpClintonRepresentative
18%80%Bob Brady
8%90%Chaka Fattah
8%90%Dwight Evans
61%35%Mike Kelly
59%37%Scott Perry
62%34%Glenn Thompson
48%48%Ryan Costello
47%49%Patrick Meehan
48%48%Mike Fitzpatrick
48%48%Brian Fitzpatrick
70%27%Bill Shuster
66%30%Tom Marino
60%36%Lou Barletta
59%38%Keith Rothfus
32%65%Brendan Boyle
31%66%Mike Doyle
52%44%Charlie Dent
51%44%Joe Pitts
51%44%Lloyd Smucker
53%43%Matt Cartwright
58%39%Tim Murphy

By county

Counties that swung from Democratic to Republican