Solid Democratic and Republican States

Since the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, there are 18 states that have always voted Democrat. These states are California, Connecticut, D.C., Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. These states are primarilly in the Northeast and West coast, which have been Democratically dominated since the Clinton elections.

At the same time, there have been 13 states that have only ever voted Republican. These Republican states are Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. These states are primarilly centered in the South and central of the country, which have always voted Republican since the Reagan elections.

These solid states account for 344 of the 538 electoral votes. 242 of them are Democratic votes, and 102 of them are Republican votes.

Given that only 270 electoral votes are required to win a presidential election, 242 votes are a huge portion of the necessary votes. However, Republican candidates also have a large number of votes, especially including Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri, which haven't voted Democratic since Clinton's election. This narrows the states that determine an election to a small, select number of swing states.