Correction: An earlier version of this story accidentally included Barlow’s precinct with the results for Canby. Barlow has only 81 registered voters and also leaned Democratic in the early returns, so it had little effect on our overall reporting. Nevertheless, we regret the error.
The nationwide race for president has not yet been settled, but Clackamas County has left little doubt about who its voters would prefer to see in the White House come January.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, led the county by a wide margin in early results over the Republic incumbent President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence: 99,839 (60.71%) to 61,784 (37.57%).
In the county’s updated results posted just before 5 p.m. Wednesday, the Dems’ lead had narrowed slightly, to 109,879 (58.5%) over 73,521 (39.15%).
The result was as expected, based on voter registration rolls, but the margin was not. The Democratic ticket of Clinton-Kaine also won Clackamas County in 2016, but by less than seven points: 49.67% (102,095 votes) to 43% (88,392).
Perhaps more surprisingly, the Biden-Harris ticket won every precinct within the city limits of Canby — albeit by very narrow margins. As of Wednesday evening, the Dems were beating the incumbent ticket in Canby 3,470 (49.9%) to 3,252 (46.8%).
If the result holds, it would be the first time Canby’s citizens endorsed a Democratic presidential candidate this millennium.
U.S. Presidential Race: Canby Precincts
| Precinct No. | Trump-Pence (R) | Biden-Harris (D) | Jorgensen-Cohen (L) | Other 3rd Party, Write-In |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 122 | 1,736 | 1,835 | 62 | 31 |
| 124 | 1,110 | 1,170 | 34 | 20 |
| 125 | 406 | 465 | 17 | 8 |
| Total | 3,252 | 3,470 | 123 | 59 |
In the last presidential election, precincts within the Canby city limits went for Trump — and by a much larger margin — garnering 3,946 votes to Hillary Clinton’s 3,212.
Those results flipped in the larger, more rural and much-redder Canby School District, where Trump was still the leading vote-getter — but it appears much closer than four years ago. In the early results, Trump-Pence led Biden-Harris by a mere 500 votes: 7,093 (50.2%) to 6,588 (46.6%).
The area was solid Trump country in the last election, with the Republican raking in 10,964 votes to Clinton’s 7,906.
In an informal poll last month, the majority of Canby Current readers said they felt Trump had outperformed his Democratic challenger in the final presidential debate.
Wikimedia Commons photo by Gage Skidmore is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
