Editing Buncombe County, North Carolina (section)

==Law, government, and politics==
===Local government===
Buncombe County is a member of the [[Councils of governments in North Carolina|Land-of-Sky Regional Council]] of governments. Buncombe County has a council/manager form of government. Current commissioners are Amanda Edwards (Chair), Al Whitesides, Jennifer Horton, Terri Wells, Martin Moore, Parker Sloan, and Drew Ball.<ref>{{cite web |title=County Commissioners |url=https://www.buncombecounty.org/Governing/Commissioners/Default.aspx |website=Buncombe County Government |access-date=February 14, 2021}}</ref>  

Buncombe County Public Libraries has 11 branch locations, with a central location at [[Pack Memorial Library]] in downtown [[Asheville, North Carolina|Asheville]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/library/branch-locations/default.aspx|title=Libraries - Branch Locations|website=buncombecounty.org|access-date=November 25, 2019}}</ref>

There are two public school systems within Buncombe County, including [[Buncombe County Schools]] and [[Asheville City Schools]] as well as many private schools and charter schools. There are four colleges in Buncombe County, including [[Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College]], [[University of North Carolina at Asheville]], [[Montreat College]], and [[Warren Wilson College]].

====Sheriff's Office and policing====
The Buncombe County Sheriff provides court protection and jail administration for the entire county and provides patrol and detective services for the unincorporated areas of the county. The Sheriff's Office is organized into six divisions: Enforcement, Detention, Animal Control, Support Operations, School Resources, Civil Process.<ref>[https://www.buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/sheriff/ Sheriff's Office - Buncombe County | Asheville<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The current Sheriff is Quentin Miller who was elected in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DeGrave |first=Sam |title=Miller makes history with resounding victory in sheriff election |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/11/07/miller-makes-history-resounding-victory-sheriff-election/1921285002/ |access-date=August 31, 2022 |website=The Asheville Citizen Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Asheville has a municipal police department, with David Zack named as the Chief of Police in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=avladmin |title=Police |url=https://www.ashevillenc.gov/department/police/ |access-date=August 31, 2022 |website=The City of Asheville |language=en-US}}</ref> The municipalities of Black Mountain, Biltmore Forest, Montreat, Weaverville, and Woodfin also have municipal police departments, and UNC Asheville and Montreat College have [[campus police]] departments. The [[North Carolina State Highway Patrol|NC State Highway Patrol]] Troop G regional headquarters is located in east Asheville.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Police Departments - Buncombe County, NC (Arrest Records & Police Logs) |url=https://www.countyoffice.org/nc-buncombe-county-police-department/ |access-date=August 21, 2023 |website=www.countyoffice.org |language=en}}</ref>

===State politics===
As of 2023, in the [[North Carolina Senate]], [[Julie Mayfield]] (D–[[North Carolina's 49th Senate district|49th]]) and [[Warren Daniel]] (R–[[North Carolina's 46th Senate district|46th]]) both represent parts of Buncombe County. Mayfield represents most of the county including Asheville and the west side. Daniel represents a portion of the east side of the county as well as McDowell and Burke counties.

In the [[North Carolina House of Representatives]], [[Eric Ager]] (D–[[North Carolina's 114th House district|114th]]), [[Lindsey Prather]] (D–[[North Carolina's 115th House district|115th]]), and [[Caleb Rudow]] (D–[[North Carolina's 116th House district|116th]]) each represent part of the county.

===Federal politics===
Buncombe had long been a [[bellwether]] county in presidential elections. It voted for the winning candidate in all but one election from 1928 until 2012, with the exception being 1960.

Since 2008, the county has trended strongly toward the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. It swung from a 0.6 point win for [[George W. Bush]] to a 14-point win for [[Barack Obama]] in 2008, and has gone Democratic by double-digit margins at every election since then. This includes 2016, when it voted for [[Hillary Clinton]]. When [[Donald Trump]] won the electoral college (and the election) after losing the popular vote, the county lost its bellwether status. In 2024, [[Kamala Harris]] achieved the strongest performance by a Democrat in the county since [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon Johnson's]] [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]] landslide. Despite losing North Carolina overall, she pushed the county two points further to the left.

North Carolina is represented in the [[United States Senate]] by Republicans [[Ted Budd]] and [[Thom Tillis]], from [[Advance, North Carolina|Advance]] and [[Huntersville, North Carolina|Huntersville]], respectively. All of the county is located in [[North Carolina's 11th congressional district]], which is currently held by Republican [[Chuck Edwards]].

{{PresHead|place=Buncombe County, North Carolina|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 14, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|59,016|98,662|2,832|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|62,412|96,515|2,642|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|55,716|75,452|7,779|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|54,701|70,625|2,370|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|52,494|69,716|1,585|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|52,491|51,868|654|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|46,101|38,545|830|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|30,518|31,658|6,891|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|30,892|32,955|11,645|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|36,828|26,964|200|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|37,698|23,337|148|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|26,124|24,837|2,569|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|22,461|26,633|285|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|32,091|12,626|877|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|21,031|14,624|11,889|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|19,372|31,623|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|28,040|23,303|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|22,655|19,044|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|24,444|22,425|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|11,460|17,072|2,319|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|9,398|20,878|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|8,723|24,878|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|9,470|23,646|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|8,745|18,241|367|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|16,590|12,405|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|6,285|10,098|467|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|8,017|10,167|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|3,830|4,229|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|426|3,716|2,386|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|3,572|3,506|62|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1904|Democratic|2,591|3,181|24|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|4,140|3,724|35|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|4,611|4,098|24|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1892|Democratic|3,125|3,588|360|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1888|Democratic|2,873|2,956|121|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1884|Democratic|2,007|2,649|26|North Carolina}}
{{PresFoot|1880|Democratic|1,591|1,995|0|North Carolina}}