Editing Jefferson County, West Virginia (section)

===Politics===
Jefferson County has been a Republican-leaning county in the 21st century, although [[Barack Obama]] carried it in the 2008 presidential election. The county is part of the [[Washington metropolitan area]], making it less heavily Republican than most counties in West Virginia. 

For much of the 20th century, the county trended strongly Democratic due to historical sympathies for Confederate Virginia. In contrast to its rock-ribbed [[Union (American Civil War)|Unionist]] and Republican Eastern Panhandle sister [[Morgan County, West Virginia|Morgan County]], Jefferson did not vote Republican until [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] won by 27 votes in 1956, and afterwards voted Republican only in the 1972 and 1984 landslides, and in 1988. 

Despite its strong support for Republican presidential candidates in recent years, local Democrats still have success in Jefferson County. Even as recently as 2018, Senator [[Joe Manchin]] won the county in his successful reelection, despite the county being the home of his opponent, Patrick Morrisey.

{{PresHead|place=Jefferson County, West Virginia|source=<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|first=David|last=Leip|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=March 23, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323225526/https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|archive-date=March 23, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|16,573|11,967|777|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|15,033|12,127|545|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|13,204|9,518|1,786|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|11,258|10,398|580|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|10,600|11,687|372|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|10,539|9,301|153|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|7,045|6,860|473|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|5,287|6,361|1,420|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|4,656|5,363|2,166|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|5,349|4,334|43|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|5,884|4,216|34|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|4,454|4,679|685|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|3,864|5,166|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|4,822|2,782|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|2,718|3,129|1,082|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|1,901|4,892|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|2,887|4,352|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|3,380|3,353|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|3,134|4,036|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|2,199|3,797|13|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|2,103|3,767|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|2,332|5,297|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|2,040|5,443|18|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|1,734|5,350|35|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|3,050|3,312|22|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|1,870|4,368|195|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|2,168|3,944|35|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|1,181|2,544|44|West Virginia}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Democratic|993|2,525|207|West Virginia}}