On November 6, 1928, Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) wins election as United States president and Roland Hartley (1864-1952) wins re-election as governor of Washington. The state's incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Clarence C. Dill (1884-1978) is retained in office, but Republicans prevail in most other races.
The presidential election was between Hoover, President Calvin Coolidge's (1872-1933) Secretary of Commerce and the Democrat, New York Governor Alfred E. Smith (1873-1944). Smith was a "wet," opposed to Prohibition, but he also represented a big-city political machine and he was Roman Catholic. Hoover easily carried Washington except for remote Ferry County.
As a reflection of the strength of the Republican Party in Washington, Senator Dill and his fellow Democrat together polled 13,000 fewer votes in the primary than did the third-place Republican. But Dill won in the general election over Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Mackintosh (b. 1875). Mackintosh carried King County, but could not win Pierce or Spokane Counties. Of the five seats in the House of Representatives, four went to Republicans.
Governor Hartley easily won re-election over Democrat A. Scott Bullitt (1877-1932), who carried only five counties.
