2000 United States presidential election in Connecticut

2000 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Gore 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90%	Bush 40–50% 50–60% 60–70%
President before election; Bill Clinton; Democratic	Elected President ; George W. Bush; Republican

The 2000 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 7, 2000, and was part of the 2000 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Connecticut was won by Vice President Al Gore by a 17.5% margin of victory. Gore's vice presidential running mate, Joe Lieberman, had been a U.S. Senator from Connecticut since 1989. Connecticut had also been the birth state of Republican nominee George W. Bush, however as a presidential candidate Bush identified his home state as Texas, where he was governor, and he did not attempt to compete in Connecticut. Connecticut is considered a safe Democratic state, having not been won by a Republican presidential candidate since Bush's father George H. W. Bush in 1988. Connecticut is also the birth state of Bush and major Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.

Bush became the first Republican to win the White House without Fairfield County since James A. Garfield in 1880, and the first since 1876 to win without Litchfield County. This was also the first election since 1976 when Connecticut failed to support the overall winner of the electoral college, and presidency. Bush became the first Republican to win without Connecticut since 1968.

Connecticut was one of ten states that backed George H. W. Bush for president in 1988 that didn't back George W. Bush in either 2000 or 2004.

Results

2000 United States presidential election in Connecticut^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Al Gore	816,015	55.91%	8
	Republican	George W. Bush	561,094	38.44%	0
	Green	Ralph Nader	64,452	4.42%	0
	Concerned Citizens	Howard Phillips	9,695	0.66%	0
	Reform	Patrick Buchanan	4,731	0.32%	0
	Libertarian	Harry Browne	3,484	0.24%	0
	Natural Law	John Hagelin (write-in)	40	0.00%	0
	Independent	Write Ins	14	0.00%	0
Totals			1,459,525	100.00%	8
Voter turnout (Voting age)					57%

By county

County	Al Gore Democratic		George W. Bush Republican		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast
Fairfield	193,769	52.33%	159,659	43.12%	16,861	4.55%	34,110	9.21%	370,289
Hartford	221,167	60.17%	127,468	34.68%	18,921	5.15%	93,699	25.49%	367,556
Litchfield	41,806	47.87%	39,172	44.85%	6,360	7.28%	2,634	3.02%	87,338
Middlesex	43,319	55.94%	29,295	37.83%	4,819	6.22%	14,024	18.11%	77,433
New Haven	197,928	58.03%	122,919	36.04%	20,252	5.94%	75,009	21.99%	341,099
New London	60,449	55.38%	41,168	37.72%	7,530	6.90%	19,281	17.66%	109,147
Tolland	33,554	53.52%	24,705	39.40%	4,441	7.08%	8,849	14.12%	62,700
Windham	24,023	54.64%	16,708	38.00%	3,232	7.35%	7,315	16.64%	43,963
Totals	816,015	55.91%	561,094	38.44%	82,416	5.65%	254,921	17.47%	1,459,525

By congressional district

Gore won all 6 congressional districts, including three that elected Republicans.

District	Bush	Gore	Representative
1st	32%	62%	John Larson
2nd	38%	56%	Sam Gejdenson
2nd	38%	56%	Rob Simmons
3rd	34%	60%	Rosa DeLauro
4th	41%	55%	Chris Shays
5th	44%	51%	Jim Maloney
6th	42%	52%	Nancy Johnson

Electors

Technically the voters of Connecticut cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Connecticut is allocated 8 electors because it has 6 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 8 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 8 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18, 2000^[2] to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for Gore and Lieberman:^[3]

Nick Balletto
Frank Cirillo
Marilyn Cohen
Gloria Collins
Kimberly Ford
Thomas McDonough
Ken Slapin
Clorinda Soldevila

References

^ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - Connecticut". Retrieved August 11, 2024.
^ "2000 Post-Election Timeline of Events".
^ "President Elect - 2000". Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2009.

[1] "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - Connecticut". Retrieved August 11, 2024.

[2] "2000 Post-Election Timeline of Events".

[3] "President Elect - 2000". Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2009.

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