2016 United States presidential election in California


The 2016 United States presidential election in California was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. California voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. California had 55 electoral votes in the Electoral College, the most of any state.
Clinton won the state with 61.73 percent of the vote, a 30.11 percent margin, and a vote difference of 4,269,978. Despite being the largest state by population in the country, California only delivered Trump his third largest vote count, behind Florida and Texas. Even though Clinton lost the presidency, her victory margin in California was the largest of any Democrat since 1936. This was only the fourth time in U.S. history that a Republican was elected president without carrying California. She also was the first Democrat to win Orange County since that same year, making Trump the first ever Republican to win the presidency without winning the county. Trump's 31.62% vote share remains the worst performance by a Republican presidential nominee since 1856. The state was one of 11 that shifted towards the Democrats.
2016 marked the first time since 1940 in California that a presidential candidate appeared as a candidate for more than one party as Donald Trump was nominated not only by the Republican Party but the American Independent Party as well.

Primary elections

On June 7, 2016, in the presidential primaries, California voters expressed their preferences for the Democratic, Republican, Green, and Libertarian, Peace and Freedom, and American Independent parties' respective nominees for president.
While California has had a top-two candidates open primary system since 2011, presidential primaries are still partisan races. Registered members of each party may only vote in their party's presidential primary. Unaffiliated voters may choose any one primary in which to vote, if the party allows such voters to participate. For 2016, the American Independent, Democratic, and Libertarian parties have chosen to allow voters registered with no party preference to request their respective party's presidential ballots.

Democratic primary

Seven candidates appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot:
  • Hillary Clinton
  • Bernie Sanders
  • Rocky De La Fuente
  • Henry Hewes
  • Keith Judd
  • Michael Steinberg
  • Willie L. Wilson

    Opinion polling

Results

Republican primary

Five candidates appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot, four of whom had suspended their campaigns prior to the primary:
  • Donald Trump
  • Ben Carson
  • Ted Cruz
  • John Kasich
  • Jim Gilmore
Donald Trump, the only candidate with an active campaign, won each Congressional district by substantial margins, as well as all the statewide delegates, to capture all 172 votes.

Libertarian primary

Twelve candidates appeared on the Libertarian presidential primary ballot:
  • Marc Feldman
  • John Hale
  • Cecil Ince
  • Gary Johnson
  • Steve Kerbel
  • John McAfee
  • Darryl Perry
  • Austin Petersen
  • Derrick M. Reid
  • Jack Robinson Jr.
  • Rhett Smith
  • Joy Waymire
The primary took place after Gary Johnson won the Libertarian nomination at the Party's 2016 convention.
CandidateVotesPercentage
Gary Johnson19,29462%
John McAfee3,13910%
Austin Petersen1,8536%
Rhett Smith1,5315%
Joy Waymire9233%
John David Hale8733%
Marc Allan Feldman8673%
Jack Robinson Jr.7392%
Steve Kerbel5562%
Darryl Perry5212%
Derrick Michael Reid4621%
Cecil Ince4171%
Total31,175100%

Green primary

CandidateVotesPercentageNational delegates
Jill Stein11,20776.2%40
Darryl Cherney1,47510%5
Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza Curry8395.7%3
William Kreml5954.2%2
Kent Mesplay5844.0%2
Total14,700100%50

Other parties

American Independent

CandidateVotesPercentage
Alan Spears7,34819%
Arthur Harris6,51017%
Robert Ornelas6,41117%
J. R. Myers4,89813%
Wiley Drake4,82813%
James Hedges3,98911%
Thomas Hoefling3,91710%
Total37,901100%

The American Independent Party, a far-right and paleoconservative political party that formed when endorsing the candidacy of George Wallace in 1968 held a small presidential primary on June 7. It was won by attorney Alan Spears.
The American Independent Party nullified the results of this primary when they endorsed Donald Trump in August. The party indicated that Trump was a popular write-in choice during the primary, but was not allowed on the ballot because there was no evidence that Trump wanted the American Independent endorsement.

Peace and Freedom

General election

Polling

Democrat Hillary Clinton won every pre-election poll by double digits. The average of the last three pre-election polls showed Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump 54.3% to 32%.

Predictions

Results



Below is an official list of California's Recognized Write-in Candidates.
  • Laurence Kotlikoff for president and Edward Leamer for vice president
  • Mike Maturen for president and Juan Muñoz for vice president
  • Evan McMullin for president and Nathan Johnson for vice president
  • Bernie Sanders for president and Tulsi Gabbard for vice president
  • Jerry White for president and Niles Niemuth for vice president
California law only requires that 55 electors sign on to declare a person a write-in candidate, not that the persons consent, according to a statement from the Secretary of State's Office.

By county

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
Clinton won 46 of the 53 congressional districts, including seven held by Republicans.
DistrictClintonTrumpRepresentative
37%56%Doug LaMalfa
69%23%Jared Huffman
53%40%John Garamendi
39%54%Tom McClintock
69%24%Mike Thompson
69%24%Doris Matsui
52%41%Ami Bera
40%55%Paul Cook
57%38%Jerry McNerney
49%46%Jeff Denham
72%23%Mark DeSaulnier
86%9%Nancy Pelosi
87%7%Barbara Lee
77%18%Jackie Speier
70%24%Eric Swalwell
58%36%Jim Costa
74%20%Mike Honda
74%20%Ro Khanna
73%20%Anna Eshoo
73%21%Zoe Lofgren
70%23%Sam Farr
70%23%Jimmy Panetta
55%40%David Valadao
43%52%Devin Nunes
36%58%Kevin McCarthy
57%36%Lois Capps
57%36%Salud Carbajal
50%44%Steve Knight
58%36%Julia Brownley
66%28%Judy Chu
72%22%Adam Schiff
78%17%Tony Cárdenas
69%26%Brad Sherman
58%37%Pete Aguilar
67%28%Grace Napolitano
68%26%Ted Lieu
84%11%Xavier Becerra
68%27%Norma Torres
52%43%Raul Ruiz
86%10%Karen Bass
67%27%Linda Sánchez
51%43%Ed Royce
82%13%Lucille Roybal-Allard
61%33%Mark Takano
41%53%Ken Calvert
78%17%Maxine Waters
83%12%Janice Hahn
83%12%Nanette Barragán
50%44%Mimi Walters
66%28%Loretta Sánchez
66%28%Lou Correa
63%31%Alan Lowenthal
48%46%Dana Rohrabacher
51%43%Darrell Issa
40%55%Duncan Hunter
72%23%Juan Vargas
58%36%Scott Peters
65%30%Susan Davis