When was the last time Missouri voted blue in a presidential election?

MISSOURI - We're just days away from the November 5, 2024 general election. Voters will soon decide whether Vice President Kamala Harris (Democrat), former President Donald Trump (Republican) or third-party candidates to determine the 47th president in United States history.

The latest comprehensive election models from The Hill project that Trump has a 98% chance of winning Missouri. If this scenario becomes a reality, it would extend Missouri's long-standing pattern of voting red in presidential elections.

But just how lengthy is that long-standing pattern? According to state election results, the last time Missouri did not vote red in a presidential candidate, otherwise voting majority blue, was 1996.

That year, Democratic incumbent Bill Clinton won a second term to remain the 43rd U.S. President. Missouri voted in favor of Clinton, 47.5% to 41.2%, over Republican challenger Bob Dole.

Before the turn to the 21st century, Missouri held a strong reputation as a bellwether state. Missouri voters sided with eventual winners in 24 of 25 U.S. presidential elections from 1900 to 1996.

This century, the closest Missouri has ever come to voting red in a presidential election was in 2008 when state voters narrowly sided with Republican challenger John McCain, 49.4% to 49.3%, over Democratic challenger Barack Obama. That year, Obama won his first of two presidential terms to become the 44th U.S. president and replace Republican incumbent George W. Bush.

Three blue candidates have finished within a 10% gap of a red majority for Missouri in a presidential election in the 2000s, though that has not been the case for the last two presidential election, in which Missouri voters largely supported Donald Trump.

Origins of red and blue states

NOTE: This information is based on a similar recent report from Nexstar affiliate KTLA.

While it seems like a name that has been around forever, the terms "red" and "blue" states have actually not been around for as long as you may think.

To find the origins of these names, you’d have to go back to the year 1976, according to NPR. During the election that year, NBC, the first all-color network, unveiled an illuminated colored map. If a state voted for Gerald Ford (Republican), the state would turn the color blue and if they voted for Jimmy Carter (Democrat) it would turn red – the opposite colors of what the parties are associated with today.

The original choice of blue for Republicans was due to blue being the color of the Union during the Civil War.

As more networks began switching to color, they too began using colored maps for the election, but they did not agree on what color each party should be. This caused viewers who would switch channels plenty of confusion as what was blue for Republicans on NBC was red on a different network.

This confusion continued until 2000 when people began casually referring to states that voted for George W. Bush (Republican) as red states and states that voted for Al Gore (Democrat) as blue states.

The terms then became commonplace in the political world, pop culture, and throughout the country, with everyone agreeing that Democrats were blue and Republicans were red.