1. On November 2, 1889, Washington Territory was admitted as the 42nd state of the United States. This momentous occasion marked the end of 36 years of territorial status and the beginning of Washington's statehood.

2. In 1970, the American singer and songwriter Janis Joplin was found dead in her hotel room at the Landmark Motor Hotel in Hollywood, California. While Joplin wasn't from Washington, she was an important figure in the state's music history, having played at the Sky River Rock Festival in Sultan, Washington in 1968.

3. On November 2, 1948, the Republican candidate for president, Thomas Dewey, appeared at the Seattle Civic Auditorium as part of his campaign tour. Dewey, who was governor of New York at the time, lost the election to incumbent president Harry S. Truman.

4. In 1983, Pastor Dale Crowley Jr. began a hunger strike outside the U.S. Capitol to protest funding for the MX missile, which was a proposed land-based intercontinental ballistic missile. Crowley, who was from Washington state, continued his hunger strike for 49 days.

5. On November 2, 2016, Washington became the latest state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. The state had previously approved medical marijuana in 1998, but the 2016 election saw the passage of Initiative 502, which legalized the possession and sale of marijuana for non-medical purposes.