Editing Orange County, New York (section)

==Politics==
{{PresHead|place=Orange County, New York|whig=yes|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=October 23, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|94,936|80,253|471|New York}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|85,068|84,955|2,516|New York}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|76,645|68,278|7,098|New York}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|65,367|73,315|1,946|New York}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|72,042|78,326|1,614|New York}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|79,089|63,394|2,190|New York}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|62,852|58,170|5,535|New York}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|45,956|54,995|13,587|New York}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|53,493|45,946|23,081|New York}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|65,446|38,465|899|New York}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|69,413|32,663|337|New York}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|51,268|30,022|9,180|New York}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|49,685|40,362|626|New York}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|63,556|25,778|181|New York}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|44,955|28,122|7,072|New York}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|30,610|48,244|70|New York}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|48,646|31,471|65|New York}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|57,739|16,722|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|51,217|20,585|98|New York}}
{{PresRow|1948|Republican|38,351|20,638|2,042|New York}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|39,041|24,059|162|New York}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|38,913|27,632|145|New York}}
{{PresRow|1936|Republican|34,428|27,528|1,320|New York}}
{{PresRow|1932|Republican|30,687|22,971|765|New York}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|37,334|19,047|1,859|New York}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|29,184|9,765|4,134|New York}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|24,558|10,567|2,010|New York}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|13,619|10,198|478|New York}}
{{PresRow|1912|Republican|10,364|9,404|4,258|New York}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|14,414|9,938|924|New York}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|14,222|9,882|879|New York}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|14,137|10,180|432|New York}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|14,086|8,971|610|New York}}
{{PresRow|1892|Republican|11,081|10,421|1,252|New York}}
{{PresRow|1888|Republican|11,261|10,852|640|New York}}
{{PresRow|1884|Republican|9,968|9,841|822|New York}}
{{PresRow|1880|Republican|10,088|9,672|156|New York}}
{{PresRow|1876|Democratic|9,430|9,776|56|New York}}
{{PresRow|1872|Republican|8,471|7,712|36|New York}}
{{PresRow|1868|Republican|8,129|7,879|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1864|Republican|6,784|6,633|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1860|Democratic|5,898|6,011|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1856|Republican|4,274|3,948|2,172|New York}}
{{PresRow|1852|Democratic|9,968|9,841|17|New York}}
{{PresRow|1848|Whig|4,172|3,170|1,434|New York}}
{{PresRow|1844|Democratic|4,626|5,303|37|New York}}
{{PresRow|1840|Democratic|4,371|4,845|3|New York}}
{{PresRow|1836|Democratic|2,242|3,541|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1832|Democratic|2,884|4,234|0|New York}}
{{PresRow|1828|Democratic|2,586|3,793|0|New York}}
|}

In recent years, Orange County has emerged as a swing county, mirroring the preferences of the nation as a whole in presidential elections, voting for the winner in every election from 1996 to 2016. The streak ended in 2020, however, as Orange County narrowly voted to re-elect [[Donald Trump]], even as Democratic nominee [[Joe Biden]] of [[Delaware]] won the election overall. [[Bill Clinton]] won Orange County 48% to 40% in [[1996 United States presidential election in New York|1996]]. [[George W. Bush]] won 50% of the Orange County vote in [[2000 United States presidential election in New York|2000]], and 55% in [[2004 United States presidential election in New York|2004]]. [[Barack Obama]] carried the county with a 52% vote share [[2008 United States presidential election in New York|four years later]] and carried the county again in [[2012 United States presidential election in New York|2012]]. However, [[Donald Trump]] won the county in [[2016 United States presidential election in New York|2016]], thus making it one of 206 counties across the country to vote for Obama twice and then Trump. In 2020, Trump again won Orange County, this time by just 312 votes out of nearly 170,000 votes cast, a margin of about 0.2 percentage points. Despite this, it was only the fourth-closest county in the state and one of five that Trump won by less than 500 votes.

Previously, like most of the Lower Hudson, Orange County had leaned [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]. From 1884 to 1992, a Republican carried Orange County in all but one presidential election. The only time this tradition was broken was in 1964, during [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Lyndon Johnson]]'s 44-state landslide. County voters have shown a willingness to sometimes elect Democrats, such as U.S. Rep. [[John Hall (New York politician)|John Hall]]. From 2007 on, when Hall represented the [[New York's 19th congressional district|19th district]], which covered most of the county, Orange's representation in Congress was exclusively Democratic, as [[Maurice Hinchey]] had represented the towns of Crawford, Montgomery, and Newburgh as well as the city of Newburgh, all of which were in what was then the [[New York's 22nd congressional district|22nd district]], since 1988.

In the [[2010 United States House of Representatives elections|2010 midterms]], Hall was defeated by [[Nan Hayworth]]. In 2012, after Hinchey's former 22nd district was eliminated in redistricting following his retirement and all of Orange County was included in the current [[New York's 18th congressional district|18th district]]. Hayworth was defeated by Democrat [[Sean Patrick Maloney]], a former adviser to President [[Bill Clinton]] and the first openly gay person to be elected to Congress from New York.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bolcer |first=Julie |url=http://www.advocate.com/politics/election/2012/11/07/openly-gay-congressional-winner-makes-history-new-york?page=0,1 |title=Gay Congressional Winner Makes History in New York |publisher=Advocate.com |date=November 7, 2013 |access-date=July 8, 2013}}</ref> Maloney won a rematch against Hayworth in 2014; in 2016 he was again re-elected over Phil Oliva, and in 2018, despite running in the Democratic primary for [[New York Attorney General]], he won re-election again over James O'Donnell. Maloney was re-elected in 2020, defeating the 2018 Republican nominee for US Senate Chele Farley. Due to redistricting, Maloney left the 18th District and the seat was left vacant. The Democrats nominated former [[Ulster County, New York|Ulster County]] Executive and incumbent Congressman from the 19th Congressional District [[Pat Ryan (politician)|Pat Ryan]], while the Republicans chose then-Assemblyman [[Colin Schmitt]]. While Ryan won the district as a whole, Schmitt won Orange County itself by 9,652 votes, or approximately 7.94% <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.orangecountygov.com/DocumentCenter/View/26812/GE22-Representative-in-Congress-18th-District-Results|title=Orange County Board of Elections Detailed Results by Contest, 2022 General, Representative in Congress for 18th District|website=www.orangecountygov.com |access-date=May 4, 2023}}</ref>

At the state level, Republicans had held onto both State Senate seats until 2018, when John Bonacic retired after 26 years, the 42nd district was then won by Democrat [[Jen Metzger]], for 1 term. In 2020 it returned to the GOP, via [[Mike Martucci]], who chose not to run for re-election in 2022. The 39th [[New York State Senate|State Senate]] District was held by Democrat [[James Skoufis]] from 2016 through 2022, when statewide redistricting moved Skoufis to the newly drawn 42nd district. Skoufis was re-elected to this new district, consisting of most of the county. Newburgh and Maybrook, meanwhile, remained in the new 39th District, held since 2022 by Republican [[Robert Rolison]].

Democrats have also made significant gains in the county's State Assembly seats. The 98th district, which includes the far western part of the county as well as the Town of Warwick, is represented by [[Karl Brabenec]], and the 101st district, which includes the Towns of Crawford and Montgomery, was until 2016 held by [[Claudia Tenney]], both Republicans. After Tenney left her seat to run for Congress that year, [[Brian Miller (New York politician)|Brian Miller]], another Republican, was elected to replace her. He held the seat until 2022 when redistricting moved him elsewhere, and he was replaced by fellow Republican [[Brian Maher]]. Colin Schmitt represented the 99th district until 2022 when it was redrawn and he left to run for Congress. The district was won by [[Chris Eachus]], a Democrat. The other two districts are also held by Democrats: [[Aileen Gunther]] in the 100th district (Middletown) and Jonathan Jacobson in the 104th district (Newburgh).