Trump Breaks Republican Presidential Nominee Records in Three States
Trump also won the largest percentage of the vote by any party’s presidential nominee in two of these states
While the final vote tallies will not be certified for a few weeks, it appears Donald Trump’s decisive victory on Tuesday also included the best ever showing by a Republican presidential nominee in three states: Kentucky, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
In Kentucky, Trump received 64.5 percent of the vote – besting the previous record set by Richard Nixon during his 1972 reelection campaign of 63.4 percent.
Trump also has notched the third and fourth largest percentage of the presidential vote by a Republican in Kentucky during his 2016 (62.5 percent) and 2020 (62.1 percent) campaigns.
Ronald Reagan in 1984 (60.0 percent) and Mitt Romney in 2012 (60.5 percent) are the remaining Republicans to reach the 60 percent mark in the state since the party formed during the mid-19th Century.
Republicans have now won 17 presidential elections in the Bluegrass State including a party record seven in a row since 2000.
In West Virginia, Trump received 70.2 percent of the vote to break his own record – and marks the first time a nominee from any party has reached the 70 percent mark.
Trump had previously set the best record by any candidate in West Virginia in each of the last two cycles.
In 2016, Trump won 68.5 percent which eclipsed Republican Abraham Lincoln’s party and state record of 68.2 percent in West Virginia’s first election for the office in 1864.
Trump then received 68.6 percent in 2020 to set a new bar in presidential races.
Republican nominees have won a party-record seven consecutive races in West Virginia since 2000.
Trump also passed the 70 percent mark in Wyoming, where he received 72.3 percent of the vote – also a state and party record.
That bested Ronald Reagan’s 70.5 percent showing in 1984 when he defeated Walter Mondale by 42.3 points.
As of the current vote count, Trump’s 46.2-point victory over Kamala Harris is the second largest in Cowboy State history behind his 46.3-point win against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Wyoming has now backed the GOP presidential nominee in 15 straight election cycles dating back to 1968.
Follow Smart Politics on X/Twitter.
KY: “…seven in a row since 1996” ; WV: “…seven consecutive races in…since 2000” ??
(Both border states began the pre-MAGA R presidential election streak ‘dating back to 2000’!)
Thanks, Geoff – typo corrected above.
“As of the current vote count…” It would be quite ironic (?) should ‘Diaper Don’ eventually end up surpassing his own 2016 victory margin within the Cowboy State. After all, ex-State Secretary HRC was not endorsed by Elizabeth Lynne Cheney, daughter of “Dick” Cheney, during her 2016 bid. But then Ms. Cheney now has about the same level of influence on her ancestral home state as ex-President William Jefferson Clinton has on his native Natural State today.
By historical yardstick, the most recent election is no more “decisive” (FYI, the winner was not determined until Wednesday shortly before sunrise, with PA and later WI being called for the controversial former prez) than, say, the 1980 or even 2020 election. It just feels that way to many a news outlet, scholar, or blogger because practically the entire ‘Establishment’ expected the impeached former president to struggle to reach 269 (followed by a contingent election) or 270, and in general a repeat of the 2020 ‘COVID election’.
As for Ms./VP Harris, she has trod the same path, so to speak, as ex-US Senator Clinton and outgoing US Senator Romney: Each lost her or his first presidential bid, and each secured the party nomination on her or his second try only to lose the general election with arguably moderate-to-high expectation of victory. My surmise is that Harris will leave public life FOR GOOD, and try her hand in the private sector or academia. After all, if she failed to defeat a twice-impeached, 34-time convicted felon who conducted what many consider to be a desultory campaign…(Indeed, had President Biden honored his implied promise and not stood for re-election from the outset, Harris, in the ensuing *regular* intramural competition, might well have lost the nomination a second time to someone not part of the unpopular administration.)