Editing Wayne County, Missouri (section)

===Federal===
Wayne County is included in [[MO-08|Missouri's 8th Congressional District]] and is currently represented by [[Jason T. Smith]] (R-[[Salem, Missouri|Salem]]) in the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]]. Smith won a special election on Tuesday, June 4, 2013, to finish out the remaining term of [[U.S. Representative]] [[Jo Ann Emerson]] (R-[[Cape Girardeau, Missouri|Cape Girardeau]]). Emerson announced her resignation a month after being reelected with over 70 percent of the vote in the district. She resigned to become CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative.

{{Election box begin | title=U.S. House of Representatives - District 8 – Wayne County (2012)}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = '''Jo Ann Emerson'''
  |votes      = '''4,232'''
  |percentage = '''74.65'''
  |change     = +5.61
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Jack Rushin
  |votes      = 1,311
  |percentage = 23.13
  |change     = -4.40
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Libertarian Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Rick Vandeven
  |votes      = 126
  |percentage = 2.22
  |change     = +1.07
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=U.S. House of Representatives - District 8 - Special Election – Wayne County (2013)}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = '''Jason T. Smith'''
  |votes      = '''817'''
  |percentage = '''56.34'''
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Steve Hodges
  |votes      = 332
  |percentage = 22.90
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Constitution Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Doug Enyart
  |votes      = 278
  |percentage = 19.17
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Libertarian Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Bill Slantz
  |votes      = 23
  |percentage = 1.59
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=U.S. House of Representatives - District 8 – Wayne County (2020)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/results-missouri-house-district-8.html|title = Missouri Election Results: Eighth Congressional District|newspaper = The New York Times|date = November 3, 2020}}</ref>}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Republican Party (United States)
  |candidate  = '''Jason T. Smith'''
  |votes      = '''4,823'''
  |percentage = '''84.20'''
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Democratic Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Kathy Ellis
  |votes      = 821
  |percentage = 14.30
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Libertarian Party (United States)
  |candidate  = Tom Schmitz
  |votes      = 85
  |percentage = 1.50
  |change     = 
}}
{{Election box end}}

====Political culture====
{{PresHead|place=Wayne County, Missouri|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 27, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|5,030|783|34|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|4,987|845|46|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|4,658|948|156|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|3,790|1,813|117|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|3,784|2,243|127|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|3,919|2,250|35|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|3,346|2,387|115|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|2,172|2,754|723|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|2,101|3,073|845|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|2,648|2,456|8|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|2,867|2,363|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|2,823|2,549|72|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|1,963|2,987|8|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|3,091|1,746|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|2,156|1,714|641|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|2,019|3,005|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|3,069|2,152|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|2,513|2,451|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|2,423|2,500|14|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|1,937|2,695|2|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|2,171|2,169|9|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|2,735|2,991|13|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|2,494|3,235|16|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|1,955|3,172|42|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|2,662|2,011|12|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|1,958|2,283|198|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|2,380|2,072|100|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|1,528|1,594|107|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|1,052|1,432|483|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1908|Democratic|1,554|1,641|104|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|1,678|1,567|86|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|1,648|1,745|34|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|1,418|1,568|22|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1892|Democratic|964|1,393|62|Missouri}}
{{PresFoot|1888|Democratic|1,001|1,428|5|Missouri}}

At the presidential level, Wayne County was traditionally a fairly independent county or battleground, though in recent years the county has become strongly Republican. President [[Donald Trump]] received a record 85% of the vote in 2020, building on his former record of 81% he set, in 2016. [[Bill Clinton]] also carried the county both times in [[1992 United States presidential election|1992]] and [[1996 United States presidential election|1996]], and since that point the county has been solidly Republican to Extremely Republican. Like many rural counties in Missouri and throughout the United States in [[2008 United States presidential election|2008]], voters in Wayne County favored [[John McCain]] over [[Barack Obama]], and favored [[Mitt Romney]] by a significantly larger margin in [[2012 United States presidential election|2012]].

In 2004, Missourians voted on [[Missouri Constitutional Amendment 2 (2004)|a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union between a man and a woman]]—it overwhelmingly passed Wayne County with 87.75 percent of the vote. The initiative passed the state with 71 percent of support from voters as Missouri became the first state to ban [[same-sex marriage]]. In 2006, Missourians voted on [[Missouri Constitutional Amendment 2 (2006)|a constitutional amendment to fund and legalize embryonic stem cell research in the state]]—it failed in Wayne County with 55.15 percent voting against the measure. The initiative narrowly passed the state with 51 percent of support from voters as Missouri became one of the first states in the nation to approve [[Embryonic stem cell|embryonic stem cell research]]. Despite Wayne County's longstanding tradition of supporting socially conservative platforms, voters in the county have a penchant for advancing [[Populism|populist]] causes like increasing the [[minimum wage]]. In 2006, Missourians voted on a proposition (Proposition B) to increase the minimum wage in the state to $6.50 an hour—it passed Wayne County with 77.36 percent of the vote. The proposition strongly passed every single county in Missouri with 75.94 percent voting in favor as the minimum wage was increased to $6.50 an hour in the state. During the same election, voters in five other states also strongly approved increases in the minimum wage.