In a far corner of the continental U.S., amid the salty air and green-carpeted mountains of the Pacific Northwest, lies a unique place with an unparalleled record of political precision.
Clallam County, Wash., which takes its name from its Indigenous peoples, has voted for the winner in every presidential election since 1980. If you go back more than 100 years, to 1920, the losing candidate has carried the county just twice; the last time was nearly half a century ago.
That’s a streak unmatched by more than 3,000 other counties in America and lends a certain weight to views expressed in this political bellwether — which, despite its physical remove, reflect the passions and polarization that make this presidential race among the most contentious in modern history.
Good luck trying to figure out who wins the White House in November.
Neither Donald Trump nor Kamala Harris appears to be running away with the contest here. In dozens of interviews across this lush slice of the Olympic Peninsula, support for the two was just about evenly split. Events that once might have given someone pause or pried loose a shaky partisan or two — the attempted assassination of Trump, Harris’ strong debate performance — have evidently passed with nary a ripple.
Voters weren’t just dug into their positions. Many couldn’t fathom how anyone could possibly think any differently.
William Lewis, with his Chesapeake Bay retriever, Brooke, says it has gotten much tougher getting by financially over the last few years.
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)
William Lewis didn’t watch much of the Trump-Harris face-off. There was no point.
“I didn’t learn anything I don’t already know,” he said of the few minutes he did tune in. “It was just the same stuff with both of them in the same room instead of different places.”
Besides, Lewis already knows who he’s voting for. He’s a staunch Trump supporter.
Inflation keeps gnawing at his wallet, and there’s no question in Lewis’ mind it’s become much tougher in the last few years just to get by — something he keenly felt as he headed into the supermarket in Forks, the sodden setting of the “Twilight” books and movies.
“Anybody that doesn’t see that, I don’t know what they’re looking at,” the 73-year-old retiree, a former heavy equipment mechanic, said beneath a glowering sky.
Jeanne Viramonte, a fellow independent, agreed with Lewis on one thing: She thought the debate was pretty much a waste of time. But only because she can’t stand the sight of the GOP nominee.
“I’ve followed him since he was on TV,” she said, scoffing at Trump’s star turn on “The Apprentice.”
Jeanne Viramonte favors stricter enforcement of immigration laws. But even though that issue is central to Trump’s candidacy, she can’t imagine supporting the GOP nominee.
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)
“His views on women are horrible,” said Viramonte, 74, a Harris backer who runs the espresso shop on the Quileute Indian Reservation in La Push. “So, no, I’m not going to watch him. I’m not going to vote for him.
“Anybody that votes for Trump,” Viramonte added, “must be stupid.”
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Like much of the Pacific Northwest, Clallam County has been buffeted by far-reaching economic change.
Logging was once the primary industry, along with fishing and agriculture. But tougher environmental laws and decreased demand caused those extraction industries to dwindle over recent decades, chasing off many good-paying, working-class jobs.
Today, the county, home to about 80,000 residents, relies heavily on services and a burgeoning tourist trade.
Ferries chug several times a day between Port Angeles’ artsy downtown and Victoria, British Columbia, about a 90-minute ride across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Olympic National Park lures roughly 3 million visitors a year to its emerald pathways. In Forks, a thriving commerce has grown up around the “Twilight” saga, drawing a steady stream of visitors to wander where its fictional werewolves and vampires roam.
Demographically, the county is hardly a mirror of America or, for that matter, the rest of Washington state. It is overwhelming white, though the Latino population has grown some in recent years and the Native American population, at 6%, is higher than the national average. The county’s residents tend to be older and less well-off than the state and nation as a whole.
The secret of Clallam County’s bellwether status apparently lies in the rough political balance among its three small population centers.
Andrea Freeman of Puyallup, Wash., takes a photo of her daughter, Grace, as they arrived in Forks, the setting of the fictional “Twilight” series.
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)
Democrats tend to fare best in Port Angeles and nearby Sequim, located in the county’s less-rainy eastern half. Forks and a smattering of tiny coastal communities — set off by themselves down a long and winding two-lane road — lean to the right. (The reservation outside Forks remains a Democratic stronghold. Landslide support there for President Obama was key to his narrow 2012 victory in the county, which kept its presidential-picking streak alive.)
Washington state does not register voters by party, so Clallam County’s exact partisan makeup is unclear. But the voting pattern — in the last 11 elections it’s gone Republican six times and Democratic five — suggests a willingness to look past partisan labels.
“There’s a far amount of distrust of both political parties and what kind of nonsense they’re trying to sell us,” said Sam Grello, the 37-year-old head of the Port Angeles Waterfront District, a business improvement group. (Locals are particularly proud of the many murals, depicting natural and historical scenes, that dot the area.)
“The bottom line is ultimately who will help our community the most,” Grello went on. “Are you willing to look at what the problems are and deal with them? Or are you an ideologue? Do ideas or people come first?”
Independent Sam Grello said he’s more interested in problem solvers than political ideologues
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)
He cited a $35-million economic development grant the Olympic Peninsula received this summer under the CHIPS and Science Act, a Biden administration initiative to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign manufacturing. That’s the kind of tangible benefit Grello has in mind.
A political independent, he planned to vote, not very enthusiastically, for Joe Biden. Now that the president has exited the race, Grello is much more excited about supporting Harris — especially after watching her debate Trump.
“I won’t be embarrassed to have her as president,” Grello said. “I won’t have to think about her so much. I want to be able to focus on my job, and not worry about the president doing theirs.”
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For the last several decades, a changing cast of locals has met once a week at the Port Angeles Senior & Community Center to discuss issues and weigh current events. Recently, 18 of them gathered in an airy second-floor conference room to talk about Trump vs. Harris.
They ranged in age from 16 to nearly 90, with the majority being retirees. (The youngest in attendance, high school sophomore Aiden Jugueta, can’t vote but said he would urge his parents to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr., since Trump is unlikely to carry Washington state.)
The differences were stark and — save for the occasional groan, eye roll or sarcastic snicker — politely received.
Democrats were thrilled at the switch atop their presidential ticket.
“We were just desolate” after Biden’s leaden debate performance, said Donna Peterson, 65. “After that, this [debate] was so refreshing, so invigorating. I mean, [Harris] cleaned his clock.”
“She’s intelligent,” Judy Wagner, 78, put in, “and you can just see the contrast” with Trump.
For their part, Republicans ascribed a long list of ills to Biden and his vice president: crime, unchecked immigration, declining educational standards.
“I don’t go out to restaurants like I used to. It’s way too expensive,” said Pam Blakeman, 72, who leads the Clallam County Republican Party. “I used to walk all over, wherever. I don’t anymore. My guard is up.”
Pam Blakeman says she no longer dines out as often or feels as safe, owing to inflation and her concerns about crime.
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)
“I think they’re spending money on programs that are just bankrupting our country, like student loans,” Kim Butler, 66, said of the Biden administration. “They have no authority. … They’re just trying to buy votes.”
The nation has gone horribly off track, some asserted, with the national debt skyrocketing and inflation wringing Americans dry. No, others insisted, for the first time there’s someone in the Oval Office who is seriously addressing climate change and has set to work rebuilding the country’s decaying infrastructure.
Undocumented immigrants are overrunning the country, some claimed, ripping off taxpayers. No, they’re hardworking people, others maintained, who’ve come for jobs no American would deign to do.
Trump is slimy. Harris is slippery.
And on.
There was not a single undecided voter seated around the large, wood grain table and only one person who planned to switch after voting for the other party’s candidate four years ago.
Ed McGuire, 72, twice backed Trump for president but plans to cast his ballot for Harris this November.
“I was a first-class idiot that got brainwashed by Rush Limbaugh,” said the political independent. Trump, McGuire continued, is evil, corrupt, a liar, a whiner and a convicted felon who may eventually go to prison. “He’s not a good person,” McGuire concluded. “I’m glad he’s not my next-door neighbor, or I’d be really telling him off.”
That got some laughs.
Ed McGuire said he was “a first-class idiot” for voting for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. This election he’s supporting Kamala Harris.
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times )
After about an hour or so, as the discussion began winding down, 65-year-old David Fox relayed a voicemail he’d gotten from two regulars, Ileanna and Mike. The couple had to miss the meeting because of an appointment, but happily reported seeing an abundance of Harris signs on their 80-mile drive to Seattle.
Hopefully, Fox said, that augurs well for the vice president in November. And, he noted, if Harris wins the White House and pulls off a victory here that will extend Clallam County’s political bellwether status for another election cycle.
That made Democrats around the table smile.