Editing Kenedy County, Texas (section)

==Politics==
Like the rest of South Texas, Kenedy County has historically supported candidates from the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. The [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] has carried the county only eight times since the [[1924 United States presidential election in Texas|1924 presidential election]]. Despite its historic Democratic lean, the county has become competitive in recent years, with Republican [[Mitt Romney]]'s performance in [[2012 United States Senate election in Texas|2012]], and Republican [[Donald Trump]]'s latest two performances in [[2020 United States presidential election in Texas|2020]] and [[2024 United States presidential election in Texas|2024]]. 

In [[2020 United States presidential election in Texas|2020]], Trump carried the county with over 65% of the vote, making him the strongest Republican margin since [[1956 United States presidential election in Texas|1956]], and Kenedy was one of only fifteen counties to flip from supporting [[Hillary Clinton]] in [[2016 United States presidential election in Texas|2016]] to Trump in 2020. Trump's performance within the county at [[2024 United States Senate election in Texas|2024]] would end up even more successful, at nearly 73% of the vote. Kenedy County had the longest losing streak in the nation, being the only county to flip from [[Barack Obama]] to [[Mitt Romney]], then to Clinton, and then to Trump in his [[Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign|unsuccessful second bid]]. However, the county would again support Trump in his more successful [[2024 United States presidential election in Texas|2024 election]], putting an end to this long streak, since Trump won the [[2024 United States presidential election|2024 election]]. Since [[2000 United States presidential election in Texas|2000]], the county has only voted for two winners; Obama in [[2008 United States presidential election in Texas|2008]], and Trump in [[2024 United States Senate election in Texas|2024]], and since [[1980 United States presidential election in Texas|1980]] it has only voted for the winning candidate four times: ([[Bill Clinton]] in both his campaigns as well as Obama in 2008, and Trump in 2024). The county has also become Republican-leaning in non-presidential elections, as Republican Senator [[Ted Cruz]] won the county in his narrow [[2018 United States Senate election in Texas|2018]] victory over [[Beto O'Rourke|Beto O’Rourke]] and the county voted Republican in every statewide election in 2018. However, despite underperforming [[Joe Biden]] by 11 points, Democrat Dan Sanchez won the county in his loss to Republican Mayra Flores in the [[2022 Texas's 34th congressional district special election|2022 Texas's 34th district special election]]. Flores subsequently carried the county in her unsuccessful bid for a full term that [[2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas #District 34|November]].
{{PresHead|place=Kenedy County, Texas|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=July 26, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|115|41|2|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|127|65|2|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|84|99|3|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|84|82|1|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|94|108|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|82|85|2|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|106|119|3|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|71|133|4|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|69|87|18|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|76|119|1|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|96|110|1|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|76|106|5|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|65|139|1|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|124|88|1|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|76|100|7|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|30|115|1|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|74|78|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|125|10|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|108|14|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|31|45|5|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|60|16|6|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|68|38|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|30|96|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|5|123|1|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|12|118|0|Texas}}
{{PresFoot|1924|Democratic|7|67|1|Texas}}
{{U.S. SenHead|place=Kenedy County, Texas|Seat=1|source=<ref>{{cite news |title=2024 Senate Election (Official Returns) |website=Commonwealth of Texas by county |date=November 5, 2024 |access-date=December 5, 2024 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/texas-senate-results}}</ref>}}
<!-- U.S. SenRow should be {{U.S. SenRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{U.S. SenRow|2024|Republican|92|48|4|Texas}}
{{U.S. SenFoot}}

In statewide races for governor and the U.S. Senate, the county has slowly trended Republican. The last Democrat to carry the county in a gubernatorial race was [[Tony Sanchez (politician)|Tony Sanchez]] in [[2002 Texas gubernatorial election|2002]], while [[Rick Noriega]] in [[United States Senate election in Texas, 2008|2008]] is the last Democrat to carry it in a senatorial race.