Editing Scott County, Missouri (section)

===Federal===
Scott 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]].

{{Election box begin | title=U.S. House of Representatives – District 8 – General Election – Scott County (2020)<ref>{{Cite web| title=Election Summary Report - General election Scott county, Missouri | date=2020-11-03 | url=https://www.scottcountymo.com/cmsAdmin/uploads/november32020official.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203190140/https://www.scottcountymo.com/cmsAdmin/uploads/november32020official.pdf | archive-date=2020-12-03}}</ref>}}{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate='''Jason T. Smith*'''|votes='''13,547'''|percentage='''77.62'''|change=}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Democratic Party (United States)|candidate=Kathy Ellis|votes=3,671|percentage=21.03|change=}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Libertarian Party (United States)|candidate=Tom Schmitz|votes=227|percentage=1.30|change=}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=U.S. House of Representatives – District 8 – General Election – Scott County (2014)}}{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate='''Jason T. Smith*'''|votes='''5,305'''|percentage='''69.67'''|change=}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Democratic Party (United States)|candidate=Barbara Stocker|votes=1,755|percentage=23.05|change=}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Libertarian Party (United States)|candidate=Rick Vandeven|votes=294|percentage=3.86|change=}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Independent (politician)|candidate=Terry Hampton|votes=145|percentage=1.90|change=}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=Constitution Party (United States)|candidate=Doug Enyart|votes=115|percentage=1.51|change=}}
{{Election box end}}

====Political culture====
{{PresHead|place=Scott 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 26, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|13,786|3,525|169|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|13,769|3,753|226|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|13,168|3,575|594|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|11,623|5,122|254|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|11,563|6,258|261|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|11,330|6,057|61|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|8,999|6,452|253|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|6,641|7,011|1,600|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|6,265|7,452|2,790|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|8,013|5,914|21|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|8,727|5,569|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|8,227|6,854|255|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|5,473|8,075|28|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|7,316|3,646|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|3,856|4,313|2,474|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|3,212|7,512|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|5,807|6,349|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|4,654|6,683|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|4,661|7,127|26|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|2,519|8,266|18|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|3,995|7,132|41|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|4,401|7,899|42|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|3,126|7,763|52|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|2,310|6,948|75|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|3,779|5,159|6|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|3,335|3,633|1,258|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|4,204|4,157|218|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|2,285|2,816|240|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|1,235|1,945|1,007|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1908|Democratic|1,473|1,853|678|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1904|Democratic|1,124|1,470|85|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|821|1,706|33|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|751|1,906|5|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1892|Democratic|671|1,612|58|Missouri}}
{{PresFoot|1888|Democratic|629|1,382|0|Missouri}}

At the presidential level, Scott County was historically a Democratic stronghold, voting Democratic in every election from 1872 through 1976 save Warren Harding's 1920 landslide and Richard Nixon's 1972 landslide.<ref>{{Cite web|title=County winners, 1836-2016|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZmDRzvm83BYurKX7LsrET-C7tcIsE5Em42Wt-gTydXk/edit?usp=embed_facebook|access-date=January 16, 2021|website=Google Docs|language=en-US}}</ref> A shift began to become evident in the 1980s, as Scott County voted Republican thrice in a row for the first time, one of those times even being against Southerner Jimmy Carter; however, all three elections were nationally decisive Republican wins, and Bill Clinton was able to recapture the county, albeit not by large margins, in both of his wins. Since then, however, Scott County has transitioned to being a reliable Republican stronghold; as of 2020, it has voted Republican six times in a row, and the Republican vote share has not gone below 60% since 2000. Donald Trump exceeded three-quarters of the vote in both of his runs.

Like most rural areas throughout Southeast Missouri, voters in Scott County generally adhere to socially and culturally [[Conservatism|conservative]] principles. 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 Scott County with 85.32 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 Scott County with 64.85 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 Scott 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 Scott County with 67.99 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.