Editing Latah County, Idaho (section)

==Government and politics==

{{PresHead|place=Latah County, Idaho|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=April 4, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|10,669|9,039|753|Idaho}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|9,472|10,236|902|Idaho}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|7,265|8,093|2,815|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|7,589|8,306|1,229|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|7,988|9,195|733|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|8,686|8,430|437|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|8,161|5,661|1,489|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|6,311|7,741|2,238|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|5,353|7,233|3,744|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|6,367|6,544|225|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|7,709|5,571|220|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|6,967|5,037|2,888|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|6,846|5,314|310|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|6,043|4,548|327|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|4,708|3,782|636|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|3,475|5,249|0|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|4,789|4,636|0|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|5,024|3,682|0|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|5,440|3,254|8|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|3,805|3,810|274|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|3,526|3,514|43|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|3,971|4,494|35|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|2,838|4,359|261|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|3,079|3,554|118|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|4,472|1,681|72|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|3,053|1,949|838|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|3,855|1,568|0|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|2,777|2,811|584|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1912|Progressive|904|1,507|2,809|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|3,101|1,802|623|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|3,287|940|452|Idaho}} 
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|2,013|2,004|0|Idaho}}
{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|1,036|1,870|16|Idaho}}
{{PresFoot|1892|Populist|1,242|0|1,490|Idaho}}

Latah County has long been one of the most politically competitive counties in Idaho, while the state as a whole is strongly [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]].

On January 3, 2017, the county had 21,723 registered voters; 10,629 (47%) are not registered by party, 6,965 (32%) are Republicans, 4,116 (19%) are [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]], 290 are [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarians]], and 83 belong to the [[Constitution Party (United States)|Constitution Party]].<!--  By percentage of the county's registered voters: Unaffiliated voters account for 47.27%, Republicans 32.06%, and Democrats 18.95%.--> Latah is one of seven Idaho counties where non-affiliated voters do outnumber Republicans. Like every Idaho county, Democrats rank third in terms of registered voter strength. In the state, Latah ranks fourth in percentage of non-affiliated voters, second in lowest percentage of Republicans, and third in percentage of Democrats.

<!-- From January 5, 2016 to January 3, 2016, Republicans increased their share of Latah voters by 6.4% while Democrats increased their share by 4.2%.-->From January <!--2,-->2014 to January<!-- 3,--> 2016, Republicans increased their share of Latah voters by 9.88% while Democrats increased their share of voters by 7.23%. This trend is consistent with the three-year statewide trend where Republicans increased their overall share of voters by 15.6%, compared to 3.23% for Democrats. The county ranks ninth for total number of registered voters and fifth within the 1st Congressional District.<ref>{{cite web|title=Party Affiliation by County ‐ January 3, 2017|url=http://www.sos.idaho.gov/elect/VoterReg/Party%20Affiliation%20Totals/2017/2017_January_Party_Affiliation_Totals_by_County.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224134513/http://www.sos.idaho.gov/elect/VoterReg/Party%20Affiliation%20Totals/2017/2017_January_Party_Affiliation_Totals_by_County.pdf |archive-date=February 24, 2017 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho Secretary of State|access-date=February 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Party Affiliation by County ‐ January 5, 2016|url=http://www.sos.idaho.gov/elect/VoterReg/Party%20Affiliation%20Totals/2016/2016_January_Party_Affiliation_Totals_by_County.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202174159/http://www.sos.idaho.gov/elect/VoterReg/Party%20Affiliation%20Totals/2016/2016_January_Party_Affiliation_Totals_by_County.pdf |archive-date=February 2, 2016 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho Secretary of State|access-date=February 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Party Affiliation by County ‐ January 2, 2014|url=http://www.sos.idaho.gov/elect/VoterReg/Party%20Affiliation%20Totals/2014/2014_January_Party_Affiliation_Totals_by_County.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140909213725/http://www.sos.idaho.gov/elect/VoterReg/Party%20Affiliation%20Totals/2014/2014_January_Party_Affiliation_Totals_by_County.pdf |archive-date=September 9, 2014 |url-status=live|publisher=Idaho Secretary of State|access-date=February 23, 2017}}</ref>

Latah was one of two Idaho counties to vote for [[Hillary Clinton]] in [[United States presidential election in Idaho, 2016|2016]]  with 8,093 votes (44.5%), compared to 7,265 (40.0%) <!--votes-->for [[Donald Trump]] and 2,798<!-- votes --> (15.5%) for various {{nowrap|other candidates.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nov 08, 2016 General Election Results|url=http://www.sos.idaho.gov/elect/results/2016/General/president_by_county.html|publisher=Idaho Secretary of State|access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref>}}
 
Similar to statewide results, Senator [[Ted Cruz]] of [[Texas]] carried Latah County in the Republican primary of 2016, and Donald Trump trailed by 1,208 votes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mar 08, 2016 Presidential Primary Election Results|url=http://www.sos.idaho.gov/elect/results/2016/PresidentialPrimary/united_states_by_county.html|access-date=February 23, 2017}}</ref> {{nowrap| Senator [[Bernie Sanders]]}} of [[Vermont]] won the Democratic county caucus with 84% of the vote.

County residents voted Republican in the [[2000 United States presidential election in Idaho|2000]] and [[2004 United States presidential election in Idaho|2004]] presidential elections, but at a lower rate than the rest of the state.  [[George W. Bush]] carried Latah County in 2000 with 53.3% of the vote, but fell to 49.5% in 2004<!--of the vote--> as the Democratic<!-- vote--> share increased from 37.0% to 48.0%.  [[Ralph Nader]] received 6.5% of the vote in 2000, but was not on the ballot in 2004.  [[Barack Obama]] carried the county 51.9% to 45.1% in [[2008 United States presidential election in Idaho|2008]] over [[John McCain]], and won 49.6% to 45.3% in [[2012 United States presidential election in Idaho|2012]] over [[Mitt Romney]].

In 2006, Latah County voted 55.05% against HJR 2, which amended the [[Idaho Constitution]] to outlaw [[same-sex marriage]]; the measure passed with 63.35% of the statewide vote.  [[Blaine County, Idaho|Blaine County]], with the resort area of [[Sun Valley, Idaho|Sun Valley]] and the state's sole Democratic stronghold (since [[United States presidential election in Idaho, 1992|1992]]), was the only other county to reject HJR 2.<ref>[http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=16&year=2006&f=0&off=60&elect=0 Idaho HJR 2 Results by County]</ref>

On the precinct level, Democrats generally carry the university city of Moscow by moderate margins, and the rural remainder of the county is strongly Republican.<ref>{{cite web
 |title        = Idaho Election Results
 |work         = Idaho Secretary Of State: Elections, Campaign Disclosure and Lobbyists
 |publisher    = Idaho Secretary of State
 |url          = http://www.idsos.state.id.us/ELECT/results.htm
 |access-date  = May 2, 2007
|url-status   = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070518234827/http://www.idsos.state.id.us/elect/results.htm
 |archive-date = May 18, 2007
}}
</ref>

The county is part of the [[Idaho's 1st congressional district|first congressional district]] and is joined with [[Benewah County, Idaho|Benewah County]] (to the north) in the [[Idaho Legislative District 5|fifth legislative district]] at the [[Idaho Legislature|state level]].