Editing Harlan County, Kentucky (section)

==Politics==
{{PresHead|place=Harlan County, Kentucky|whig=no|source1=<ref name=DL>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|first=David|last=Leip|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=November 4, 2024}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP/Whig vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|9,109|1,199|80|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|9,367|1,494|110|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|9,129|1,372|256|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|8,652|1,830|175|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|7,165|2,586|163|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|6,659|4,332|79|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|4,980|5,365|190|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|3,337|5,874|916|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|3,970|6,796|1,437|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|5,166|7,341|69|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|6,959|7,663|140|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|5,460|8,798|199|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|4,624|7,300|82|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|6,527|4,349|109|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|4,572|6,389|2,116|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|4,025|9,394|9|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|7,485|9,211|0|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|8,820|6,915|26|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|10,025|7,284|21|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|4,402|9,158|300|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|5,815|8,000|23|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|5,859|10,582|42|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|7,510|11,060|0|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1932|Republican|11,118|9,091|45|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|12,251|3,958|37|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|9,634|2,133|1,441|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|7,493|1,805|53|Kentucky}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|2,670|690|75|Kentucky}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Progressive|612|345|831|Kentucky}}
Harlan County's political history resembles West Virginia's. Under the [[Third Party System|Third]] and [[Fourth Party System|Fourth Party]] systems it was a Republican county: except when supporting [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s "Bull Moose" Party in 1912, it voted Republican for the presidential candidate in every election from 1880 to 1932.<ref name="Political">The Political Graveyard; [http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/KY/HR-votes.html Harlan County, Kentucky]</ref> However, with increasing unionization in the coal industry, it became a Democratic stronghold for six decades. With the exception of [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]'s victories in 1952 and 1956, and [[Richard Nixon]]'s landslide re-election in 1972 (in which it gave 59.4% of its votes to the Republican incumbent Nixon and 39.6% of its votes to Democratic presidential nominee [[George McGovern]]), it voted blue in every election from 1936 to 2000.<ref name="Political"/>

Even in [[Ronald Reagan]]'s landslide re-election of 1984, Harlan County voted 51.9% for Democratic presidential nominee [[Walter Mondale]], while incumbent Reagan received 47.1% of the vote. But the decline of the coal industry also changed politics in the county: in the 2004 Presidential election, Harlan County voted for the Republican presidential nominee for the first time in 32 years; Republican incumbent [[Presidency of George W. Bush|George W. Bush]] received 60.2% of the vote, while the Democratic presidential nominee [[John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004|John Kerry]] received 39.1% of the vote.

This rightward trend continued in 2008, when Republican presidential candidate [[John McCain]] received 72.3% of the vote, while Democratic presidential nominee [[Barack Obama]] received 26.1% of the vote. In 2012, the Republican gap was even larger, as the Republican presidential nominee [[Mitt Romney]] won the county over the Democratic incumbent Obama by a 64% margin (81.2% to 17.2%). In the 2016 election, its voters supported Republican nominee [[Donald Trump]] over Democrat [[Hillary Clinton]] by a 72.12% margin (84.87 to 12.75).<ref name=DL/>

In 2020 Donald Trump received 85.38% of the county's vote compared to 13.62% for Democratic nominee [[Joe Biden]], for a slightly lower margin of 71.76%. but an improvement over his previous percentage of 84.87%.<ref name=DL/>

===Elected officials===
{| class=wikitable
|-
| colspan="3" |'''Elected officials as of January 3, 2025'''<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/Legislators/smembers_county.html |title=Senate Members - County |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=apps.legislature.ky.gov |publisher=[[Kentucky General Assembly]] |access-date=January 3, 2025 |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/Legislators/hmembers_county.html |title=House Members - County |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=apps.legislature.ky.gov |publisher=[[Kentucky General Assembly]] |access-date=January 3, 2025 |quote=}}</ref>
|- 
! scope=row|[[U.S. House]]
| {{party shading/Republican}}|[[Hal Rogers]] (R)
| {{party shading/Republican}}|{{ushr|KY|5|B}}
|- 
! scope=row|[[Kentucky Senate|Ky. Senate]]
| {{party shading/Republican}}|[[Scott Madon]] (R)
| {{party shading/Republican}}|[[Kentucky's 29th Senate district|29]]
|- 
!rowspan=2 |[[Kentucky House of Representatives|Ky. House]]
| {{party shading/Republican}}|[[Adam Bowling]] (R)
| {{party shading/Republican}}|87
|- 
| {{party shading/Republican}}|[[Mitch Whitaker]] (R)
| {{party shading/Republican}}|94
|}