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Who is blue and who is red? A look at how political colors emerged

Vaseline November 6, 2024

For years we’ve heard about “red states” and “blue states,” so this must have been a thing since America adopted a two-party system… right? Simply put: no.

The designation of colors for specific parties, in this case red for the Republicans and blue for the Democrats, is something so ingrained in the political arena that it’s hard to believe it’s actually something that started during the 2000 election. Previously, the color distinction would change every presidential election cycle.

Here’s how red and blue became the colors of the election and why they changed to represent certain parties.

Why politicians switch parties during their terms What we know.

For more than a century, politicians have changed parties during their mandates, sometimes leading to political unrest. Here’s what we know.

When did the Republicans turn red and the Democrats turn blue?

It was probably due to a random design by ABC.

During the network’s 1984 election coverage, then-ABC anchor David Brinkley offered a random explanation for the decision: “Red, R, Reagan — that’s why we chose red,” CNN reports.

From there, other television news channels followed suit and soon showed the Republicans in red and the Democrats in blue for the most part, but before that the colors were usually changed (blue for Republicans and red for Democrats) or just a random color.

It wasn’t until the 2000 election that it became a permanent change across the board for new outlets.

Who is blue and who is red?

The 2000 presidential election between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore is considered the most protracted election in modern political history, lasting weeks until Gore conceded the race to Bush on December 13, 2000. It was also the decisive moment in the fight against Bush. which established the color schemes we now use to identify which party won each state.

USA TODAY, along with several other news outlets, used the red-blue color scheme to indicate which party won each state.

“The reason I did it was because everyone was already doing it that way at that point,” Paul Overberg, then a database editor who designed USA TODAY’s election map, told Smithsonian magazine about the color scheme choice.

Does either political party have an official color?

No, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have an official color associated with the party.

What colors were used before the 2000 election?

Well, before the 1950s, people didn’t even have election nights on television.

The first televised election night was in 1952 and, according to History.com, followed the results of the presidential race between Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower and Democrat Adlai Stevenson. And back then, there weren’t the color-coated cards we have today, but more of a counting system that was updated by hand as the results came in.

Until the 1970s, much of the election night coverage was broadcast in black and white, and many newspapers used a monochrome print based on contrast rather than color.

As technology advanced, so did the election night broadcast, but what color was used to distinguish candidates was based more on what channel you watched and where you lived in the country. But blue has always been more closely associated with conservative politics than it is today.

In the 1970s and beyond, blue was a predominant color used by Republicans in their campaign logos and even used to represent victories for presidents. Most broadcast news began to align in its use of color, taking a page from the British.

“Without thinking about it, we said blue for conservatives, because that’s what the parliamentary system in London is, and red for the more liberal party,” Roy Wetzel, then general manager of NBC’s elections unit, told Smithsonian Magazine in 2012 . “And that solved it. We just did it.”

On election night 1984 in Washington, DC, a huge map of the United States was placed on the back wall of the Republican headquarters and organizers tore away green covers from states to reveal blue fabric for the 49 states that Ronald Reagan carried that election won. , according to CNN.

And although the Republicans used the blue color in their campaigns, the Democrats also used the color intensively.

This story has been updated to add a video.