Editing Holmes County, Mississippi (section)

==Politics==

{{PresHead|place=Holmes County, Mississippi|source=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=March 4, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|1,243|5,420|67|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|1,369|6,588|158|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|1,309|6,689|78|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|1,435|7,812|41|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|1,714|7,765|64|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|1,961|6,366|56|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|1,937|5,447|38|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|1,536|4,720|155|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|1,694|4,092|228|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|2,737|5,350|39|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|3,102|5,641|10|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|2,693|5,463|180|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|2,438|4,616|149|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1972|Democratic|3,158|3,459|69|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|520|3,881|3,008|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1964|Republican|3,115|110|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1960|Dixiecrat|455|628|1,484|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1956|Dixiecrat|215|872|1,052|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|1,305|1,423|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1948|Dixiecrat|24|61|2,139|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|122|1,954|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|37|2,041|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|12|1,885|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|45|1,799|8|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|134|2,004|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|92|1,173|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|69|917|15|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|21|1,070|14|Mississippi}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Democratic|5|936|41|Mississippi}}

During and following the [[Reconstruction era (United States)|Reconstruction era]] in the 19th century, African Americans had supported the Republican Party. It had achieved emancipation of slaves and granted freedmen full citizenship and constitutional rights through ratification of constitutional amendments. Following the effective [[Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era|disenfranchisement]] of blacks in 1890 by the state's new constitution with restrictions on voter registration, blacks were excluded from politics in Mississippi; other southern states repeated this model, so they were disenfranchised across the former Confederacy. However, the Republican Party retained influence through political appointments, and people struggled to control these within each southern state.<ref name="journal"/>

[[Perry Wilbon Howard II|Perry Wilbon Howard]] (born in [[Ebenezer, Mississippi|Ebenezer]] in 1877) was one of about two dozen African-American attorneys among the second generation of freedmen in the state. After passing the bar, he set up a practice in the capital of [[Jackson, Mississippi]], where he worked for about fifteen years. Active in the Republican Party, he was a delegate to national conventions from 1912 to 1960, representing his constituents to the national party. Although he moved to Washington, DC, where he was partner in a prominent black law firm, Howard was elected as Republican National Committeeman from Mississippi in 1924. He retained control of this position (and patronage appointments) until 1960. He was appointed in 1923 to a national position in the Office of the Attorney General in the administration of [[Warren G. Harding]], retaining it until resigning under President [[Herbert Hoover]] in 1928.<ref name="journal">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2207107?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Neil R. McMillen, "Perry W. Howard, Boss of Black-and-Tan Republicanism in Mississippi, 1924-1960"], ''The Journal of Southern History,'' Vol. 48, No. 2 (May 1982), pp. 205-224 at JSTOR {{subscription required|via JSTOR}}</ref>

Since the civil rights years and gains of enforcement in voting rights in the late 1960s, most African-American voters, who constitute a large majority in the county, have voted strongly for Democratic candidates in [[President of the United States|Presidential]] and [[United States Congress|Congressional]] elections. The last Republican presidential candidate to win a majority in the county was [[Barry Goldwater]] in [[United States presidential election in Mississippi, 1964|1964]], at a time when nearly all African Americans in the county and state were still disenfranchised by the state's constitution and discriminatory practices. In 2008, Democrat [[Barack Obama]] won 81 percent of the county's vote, as seen by the adjacent table.

Holmes is part of [[Mississippi's 2nd congressional district]], which is represented by Democrat [[Bennie Thompson]].