 No Republican Presidential candidate has carried Washington County since George Bush senior did so in 1988, and in two of the past three Presidential elections Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have carried the county by over twenty percentage points.The last Republican to win a statewide election in Washington County was Gordon H. Smith in the 2002 Senate contest.In the 2008 Senatorial election Democrat Jeff Merkley winning 48.8 percent of the county's vote (111,367) while Republican incumbent Smith won 46.5 percent (106,114), but no subsequent Republican Senate candidate has won 40 percent of the county's vote.