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Washington
The Evergreen State, the wet and dry sides of the Cascades
Washington is split in two by the Cascade Range, and the two halves could hardly be more different. West of the mountains is a green, rain-soaked world: the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula among the wettest places in the country, the inland sea of Puget Sound with its islands and harbors, and the populous corridor from Seattle to the Canadian border. East of the Cascades the land falls into rain shadow — dry, rolling, and far sunnier — the wheat country of the Palouse and the sweeping Columbia Plateau.
The Cascades are a volcanic range, and Mount Rainier dominates it at 14,411 feet (4,392 m), the state high point and a glacier-clad volcano looming over Seattle. The Columbia River sweeps through the dry east in a great curve before turning to form the Oregon border, its waters tapped by huge dams for power and irrigation. Puget Sound, a glacier-carved network of deep channels, gives the west its ports and mild marine climate. From Pacific rainforest to inland desert, Washington compresses extremes into a single state.
Economy
Washington has a technology-driven economy anchored by Seattle, home to Microsoft, Amazon, and a deep software and cloud-computing sector, alongside Boeing and a major aerospace industry. Its deep-water ports are among the closest in the mainland United States to Asia, making trade central, and eastern Washington produces most of the nation's apples along with wheat and wine. The state levies no personal income tax.
Politics
Washington carries 12 electoral votes and votes reliably Democratic in presidential elections, its politics dominated by the populous, progressive Seattle and Puget Sound region. The drier, more rural eastern half of the state, beyond the Cascades, leans strongly Republican, producing a sharp west-east political divide.