The only place in the United States that has never voted Republican

Every four years, it seems like the United States’ electoral map is shrinking as the number of swing states slowly decreases.

This year there are only though to be seven states - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin - where both candidates have a realistic chance of victory. But over the years that picture has changed greatly, with every single state having voted for both the Republican and Democratic candidate at least once.

The only outlier is Washington DC, which has consistently backed the Democrats since first receiving electoral votes in 1962. The 23rd Amendment allowed residents in the capital the chance to cast a ballot in the Presidential Election but ensured that DC’s must always have fewer electoral votes than any state. As such, it has retained just three Electoral College votes across the 16 elections.

When did Alaska vote for the Democrats?

Often characterised as the most unshakable of the states, Alaska has been a Republican lock for decades. Alaska entered the Union in January 1959 and took part in the 1960 presidential election, voting for the Democratic candidate in all but one.

In 1964 Alaska’s votes went to Lyndon Johnson as he routed GOP candidate Barry Goldwater. That remains the only time that Alaska has turned blue. For context, Donald Trump’s ten percentage-point victory in 2020 was the smallest margin of victory since 1992.

Nevertheless, that won’t be a major concern for the Democrats. The sparsely-populated state holds just three electoral college votes, ensuring that it is unlikely to play a key role in the final result in the 2024 Presidential Election.