Who is blue and who is red? A look at how political colors came to be

On November 6, 2024By Littum

For years we have been hearing about “red states” and “blue states” so this must have been a thing since the US established a two party system… right? In short, no.

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

Here’s a look at how red and blue became the colors of the election and why it changed to denote certain parties.

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When did it become republican red, democrat blue?

It was probably thanks to an arbitrary design by ABC.

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

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

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

Who is blue and who is red?

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

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 everybody was already doing it at the time,” Paul Overberg, then a database editor who designed USA TODAY’s election map, told Smithsonian magazine about the color choice.

Does one of the political parties have an official colour?

No, neither Republicans nor 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 televised election night.

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

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

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 adapt their use of color by 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, red for the more liberal party,” Roy Wetzel, then general manager of NBC’s election unit, told the paper. Smithsonian Magazine in 2012. “And that settled it. We just did.”

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

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

This story was updated to add a video.