Editing Stearns County, Minnesota (section)

==Politics and government==
In its early history, Stearns County was heavily Democratic due to being largely German Catholic and opposed to the pietistic Scandinavian Lutheran Republican Party [[Third Party System|of that era]]. It did not vote Republican until [[Theodore Roosevelt]] swept every Minnesota county in 1904.<ref>Menendez, Albert J.; ''The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004'', pp. 228-233 {{ISBN|0786422173}}</ref> Anti-[[Woodrow Wilson]] feeling from [[World War I]] caused the county to shift overwhelmingly to Warren G. Harding in 1920 before swinging to [[Robert M. La Follette]], coreligionist [[Al Smith]] and fellow [[Prohibition in the United States|“wet” Democrat]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].{{Cn|date=May 2025}}

In 1936, the county's isolationism gave strong support to [[William Lemke]]’s [[Union Party (United States)|Union Party]].<ref>Phillips, Kevin P.; ''The Emerging Republican Majority'', pp. 428-430 {{ISBN|978-0-691-16324-6}}</ref> Stearns County turned Republican until another Catholic nominee, [[John F. Kennedy]], returned it to the Democratic ranks after being one of only 130 counties nationwide to back [[George McGovern]] in 1972.{{Cn|date=May 2025}} Since the “Reagan Revolution”, Stearns County has voted reliably Republican, with no Democrat gaining a majority since [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1976, and [[Bill Clinton]] in 1996 the only one to manage a plurality.{{Cn|date=May 2025}} The county's growing social conservative bent has fueled the Republican trend.{{Cn|date=May 2025}}

In 2016, [[Donald Trump]] won the county with 59.8% of the vote, the highest percentage any presidential candidate has received since President [[Dwight Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] in 1956.{{Cn|date=May 2025}} He improved on that in 2020 with 60.1% of the vote.{{Cn|date=May 2025}}

As of 2024, one city in the county leans Democratic: [[St. Cloud, Minnesota|St. Cloud]], the largest city.<ref name="Leip">{{Cite web |last=Leip |first=David |title=Atlas of US Presidential Elections |url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS |access-date=October 10, 2018 |website=uselectionatlas.org}}</ref>

{{PresHead|place=Stearns County, Minnesota|whig=no|source1=<ref name="Leip" />}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP/Whig vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|53,932|30,829|1,871|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|50,959|31,879|1,997|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|47,617|25,576|6,399|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|43,015|33,551|1,911|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|41,194|35,690|1,872|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|41,726|32,659|1,192|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|32,402|24,800|5,274|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|21,474|24,238|9,333|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|22,502|21,451|15,387|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|27,529|23,798|766|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|30,216|20,944|485|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|24,888|21,862|4,772|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|19,574|25,027|3,220|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1972|Democratic|18,951|19,315|3,134|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|15,422|15,990|2,168|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|13,009|19,063|94|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|13,522|19,026|33|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|17,364|9,829|64|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|18,267|9,907|39|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|10,153|15,261|292|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|13,298|8,647|84|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|16,027|9,305|102|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|5,262|12,760|4,558|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|4,499|18,293|258|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|6,459|16,104|52|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1924|Progressive|6,469|1,354|9,491|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|13,566|1,616|532|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|4,312|3,350|259|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|1,134|3,317|1,983|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1908|Democratic|2,614|3,835|296|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|2,849|2,625|175|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|2,460|4,244|216|Minnesota}}
{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|2,873|4,911|183|Minnesota}}
{{PresFoot|1892|Democratic|1,624|4,461|774|Minnesota}}