The last bellwether standing: Clallam County

If you were to drive the farthest west you can in Washington, you would end up in Clallam County. That’s on the tip of the Olympic Peninsula, nestled between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean. It’s a remote, wide county, where you can visit Olympic National Park and drive from sunny Sequim to rainy Forks. It’s a place known for its beauty and for its wilderness.

Now, it’s made a name for itself in national politics.

Port Angeles is the seat of Clallam County. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

In 2020, Clallam County voters went blue and voted for Joe Biden. Not only did that break the mold of how they voted in 2016 when they went red for Donald Trump, but it made them the last bellwether county. 

In politics, bellwether means a predictor; a place that, due to past trends, people look to see the probable outcome of an election, because that place has favored the winner for so long. 

The word “bellwether” comes from sheep farming. It’s what ranchers would call a castrated male sheep, a wether, who led the flock with a bell around his neck. Here, Sawtooth Ranch co-operator, Devin Peterson, holds newborn ram, Brutus. Listen to the audio story to hear more about sheep herding in Clallam County, and what it has to do with politics. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

Since 1980, the majority of voters in Clallam County have voted for every president that has made it to office — from Reagan, to the first Bush, Clinton, then younger Bush, Obama, Trump, and now Biden. In 2020, all the remaining bellwether counties differed, except Clallam. 

This November, with the same candidates from the two major parties running, will the county keep the title?

The March presidential primary elections were close here. While the county did favor Biden, there was a difference of only 284 votes between the Democrat candidates and the Republican candidates. 

This place might be a community with so much political diversity because of its unique geography.

“Both Clallam County and Jefferson County have this weird thing where up until very, very recently, it was much easier to get to one end of the county by boat than it was by car,” said historian David Brownell at the North Olympic History Center in Port Angeles. “So, you end up with a county that parts of it are somewhat disconnected from other parts, and you end up with, I guess I would define it as kind of culturally distinct areas.”

Historian David Brownell looks at archived newspapers in the North Olympic History Center on March 14. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

Clallam County is over 100 miles long. That has made for a lot of different communities spread out from each other. About 75,000 people live in the county, and from 2020 to 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population increased about .6%. 

In the west end, where Forks is, the communities are more isolated. That area is known for being more conservative. 

“In the western end of the county and Clallam Bay, where that population is shrinking,” said Noah Glaude, the executive director of the North Olympic Library Systems. “There’s fewer kids going to school, there are fewer people in that community.” 

Sarah Morrison, left, and Noah Glaude, work together for the North Olympic Library System. Glaude wonders if changing demographics in the county could impact its bellwether status. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

In the east end are the bigger cities of Port Angeles and Sequim, which are known for being more liberal.

Port Angeles is the most populated town in Clallam County, with over 20,000 residents. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

As a librarian who serves a lot of the county, Glaude said he has noticed the population on the west end is decreasing, while it is increasing on the east end. That has him thinking about the possibility of changing demographics, and he said that makes him wonder if that could end this county’s streak as a bellwether.

Norma Turner, a Port Angeles resident, said the bellwether title is not one she celebrates.

“Some of us are embarrassed that we’re a bellwether, because it meant we went for Trump one time, but that’s how it is,” Turner said, seated in her dining room in the house she and her husband had built when the couple moved here in 1970. 

Her husband became the first pediatrician in the area. Turner got involved in local politics. She said she was involved in efforts to recall county commissioners in the ‘70s. 

“My children used to say, ‘Mom, I hope you don’t talk about politics tonight, that’s embarrassing.’” She laughed and said she thinks talking with people you disagree with is healthy. “Hopefully, we’re a bellwether that you can vote one way or the other and not have unruly behavior, that would be good. I think that’d be the best way to be a bellwether.”

Norma Turner has lived in Port Angeles since 1970, with her husband Gene. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

There’s an old saying: “Don’t talk politics at the dinner table.” Well, it doesn’t happen at dinner, but some people in Clallam County gather every Thursday morning to do just that. 

At the Port Angeles Senior and Community Center, a dedicated group of community members talks for a few hours about local issues, national politics and whatever else comes up. 

On March 14, almost two dozen participants gathered upstairs in the Port Angeles Senior and Community Center. Debate over presidential politics flourished. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

Notebooks, news articles and nonfiction books scatter the table at the political discussion group at the Port Angeles Senior and Community Center. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

Participants come prepared, with books on the Israel-Palestine conflict, articles printed from the Epoch Times, copies of The Week, notebooks and pens for jotting down thoughts and rebuttals. 

The whole time, they disagree civilly with each other. 

One participant, Kim Butler, begins the discussion by bringing up a claim made that Donald Trump signed an order to deploy National Guard troops on Jan. 6, 2020, before the attack on the capitol in Washington, D.C. That claim has since been proven false by multiple news outlets, such as the Associated Press, The Washington Post and USA Today. 

The comment fueled debate in the discussion group.

Sandra Lytle addresses her fellow community members at the political discussion group in Port Angeles on March 14. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

One member, Sandra Lytle, said “This was before Jan. 6 happened. Trump asked for this help before he had the rally, and the State Capitol knew it. Nancy Pelosi knew it.”

Another participant, David Fox, disagreed. “Trump has gone around telling everybody that he offered troops for that day and that it was declined. It’s clear, it’s just like I said, we only have one staffer who even said he ever heard Trump say that number on the phone. There’s no other record of that, and nobody in the military remembers that conversation. That’s the main thing.”

The discussion on this topic went on for a while, before turning to the term “white Christian nationalist,” immigration issues, and what the Republican Party platform is and who they think is the most divisive president (the answer for that fell on party lines). For about an hour, they talk, before taking a short break, just to get right back into it.

One participant, David Fox, raises his hand to share at the Port Angeles Senior and Community Center political discussion group. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

The discussion group wasn’t always such a hotspot for debate. A few months ago, some participants invited people at the Republican County headquarters to join, in an effort to include more voices. Some of the Republicans took this mostly Democratic group up on the invitation. Now, debate flourishes.

Almost two dozen people attended the March 14 meeting of the group.

“For years, frankly, it was sort of a liberal echo chamber, because everybody was a Democrat, and everybody was a liberal,” said John Kendall, a former journalist who moderates the group. 

Participants raise their hands to speak, or sometimes, they interrupt each other, at the Port Angeles Senior and Community Center political discussion group. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

Amid all the disagreement and interruptions, there’s a general sense of respect. There’s moments like this —

“I really appreciate you guys showing up to a group that was pretty much on the left side and showing up again and again and telling us your view,” said participant Lynn Ilon. “It’s helping me a lot to understand. I completely disagree with everything you say but it’s helping me a lot to try to understand, and it takes fortitude to show up. I just want to say that.”

Pam Blakeman, left, and Kim Butler, right, listen during the discussion group on March 14. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

Bravos and clapping scattered through the room as everyone agreed.

There does seem to be a sentiment that in a community with differing political views, there’s power in being different, together. Couple John O’Dowd and Karen Chadwick, who moved here from San Francisco, expressed that. 

“Honestly, I was very comfortable being in the bubble of San Francisco,” Chadwick said. “I also really do like the fact that there is the diversity here and the opportunity to be able to create that discourse, because it’s not really happening as far as I can see — polarized as we are right now.”

O’Dowd said what he sees as an increasing divide in the United States is disheartening. But both agreed that this community is a place where political discourse can happen, in a healthy way. 

Karen Chadwick, left, and John O’Dowd stop on their walk along the Port Angeles waterfront. The couple moved from San Francisco and enjoy the political diversity here. (Credit: Tela Moss / NWPB)

“I think there’s a certain friendliness here as well that allows people to know that, well, my neighbor is a person not an enemy,” O’Dowd said. “So, I think there’s a lot of hope for a community like this.”

In November, voters will decide who will become the next president — and the election will show if Clallam County remains a bellwether.