Blue wall (U.S. politics)

The "Blue wall" is a term used by political pundits to refer to eighteen U.S. states and the District of Columbia that the Democratic Party won in each presidential election from 1992 to 2012. George W. Bush, the only Republican president elected during this time, was able to narrowly win the electoral college in 2000 and 2004 only by winning states outside of the blue wall, enough to defeat his Democratic opponents, Al Gore and John Kerry, respectively.

During the 2016 presidential election, many political pundits speculated that the "blue wall" made Hillary Clinton a heavy favorite to win the electoral college.^[1][2] However, Republican nominee Donald Trump was able to achieve narrow victories in the three blue wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, as well as an electoral college vote from Maine, a fourth blue wall state. He was consequently elected president with 306 electoral college votes (excluding two faithless electors).

In the 2020 United States presidential election, Democratic nominee Joe Biden defeated President Trump by reclaiming Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania for his party.^[3] Trump's lone breakthrough in the "blue wall" in 2020 was the one electoral vote from Maine, which he again won. Coincidentally, Biden won 306 electors, the same number Trump did in 2016.^[4]

The term "red wall", or "red sea", is less commonly used to refer to states that Republicans have consistently won in previous election cycles; however, most of these states represent significantly fewer electoral college votes than the blue wall. These terms refer to the colors that have become associated with the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively, in the 21st century.