Editing McDowell County, West Virginia (section)

==Politics==
The power of industrial and mining political systems turned the county towards the Republican Party between 1890 and 1932, even supporting [[William Howard Taft]] during the divided [[1912 United States presidential election in West Virginia|1912 presidential election]].<ref name="Geography">Menendez, Albert J.; ''The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004'', pp. 334-337 {{ISBN|0786422173}}</ref> However, starting in [[1936 United States presidential election|1936]], the county realigned towards the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], given its strong unionization in the coal mining sector, voting for the Democratic candidate in every election from 1936 to 2008 except [[Richard Nixon]]'s [[1972 United States presidential election in West Virginia|1972 landslide]].

Since [[1996 United States presidential election in West Virginia|1996]], the county has trended [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] again, due to the prevailing environmentalist stances in the Democratic Party regarded as hostile towards coal mining interests. The county voted Republican in 2012 for the first time since 1972, and has since consistently voted Republican.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schneider |first=Gregory S. |date=April 12, 2023 |title=Deep in Virginia's craggy coal country, they saw Trump as their only hope |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/deep-in-virginias-craggy-coal-country-they-saw-trump-as-their-only-hope/2016/11/11/a76ac324-a69f-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1_story.html |access-date=May 28, 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=November 2, 2016 |title=Coal country West Virginia feels forgotten by politics |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-37791302 |access-date=May 28, 2024 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> In [[2024 United States presidential election in West Virginia|2024]], Republican [[Donald Trump]] won the largest share of the vote ever for a Republican presidential nominee in the county, garnering 79.4% of the vote. 
{{PresHead|place=McDowell County, West Virginia|whig=no|source1=<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leip |first=David |title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections |url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS |access-date=March 27, 2018 |website=uselectionatlas.org}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP/Whig vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|4,310|1,036|79|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|5,148|1,333|46|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|4,629|1,438|179|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|3,959|2,109|120|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|2,882|3,430|118|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|2,762|4,501|36|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|2,348|4,845|110|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|1,550|5,989|669|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|1,941|7,019|821|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|2,463|7,204|47|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|4,284|8,546|53|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|3,862|9,822|259|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|4,107|10,557|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|8,942|6,811|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|4,020|12,842|2,075|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|3,684|18,046|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|6,555|19,501|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|11,138|16,865|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|10,663|24,657|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|9,687|21,545|240|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|11,023|19,300|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|13,906|24,449|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|9,975|25,471|35|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1932|Republican|16,069|12,365|80|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|14,810|8,294|31|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|12,422|5,561|1,749|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|12,198|5,068|16|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|7,086|3,692|20|West Virginia}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Republican|4,341|2,497|2,489|West Virginia}}