Editing Shenandoah County, Virginia (section)

==Politics==
Politically, Shenandoah County is one of the most consistently [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] counties in Virginia, a trend that predates the rest of western Virginia moving away from the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. It was first won by a Republican presidential nominee in [[1896 United States presidential election|1896]], and has voted Republican in every presidential election since [[1936 United States presidential election|1936]], and in all but one election since [[1920 United States presidential election|1920]]. Nearly solidly Democratic before 1900, the county began voting Republican in statewide elections around the beginning of the 20th century but was a swing county. In the 1920s it became solidly Republican at a statewide level, with the exception of Democratic local hero [[Harry F. Byrd]] and [[Harry F. Byrd Jr.|his son]]. This early swing to the GOP came from the county’s rural voters being overwhelmingly [[German Americans|German American]] Republicans, which overpowered the conservative [[Southern Democrats|Southern Democrat]] vote in the county population centers of [[New Market, Virginia|New Market]], [[Woodstock, Virginia|Woodstock]], and [[Strasburg, Virginia|Strasburg]]. [[Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1902]] was vehemently opposed by the counties of western Virginia due to the impact on racial equality and perceived disenfranchisement of the many poor whites of the region. The once strong Democratic county turned Republican due to this convention, which, according to the Shenandoah Herald, was the “…death knell of the Democratic party in [[Shenandoah Valley|the Valley]] counties.” The Democrats of the county were of the [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian]], small government stock; leading them to vote Republican after the perceived injustice by the state convention in the creation of a new constitution,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Humanities|first=National Endowment for the|date=November 8, 1901|title=Shenandoah Herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974 (Image 2)|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85026941/1901-11-08/ed-1/seq-2/|access-date=December 13, 2021|issn=2333-7788}}</ref> which was not ratified by popular vote. The county briefly returned to its Southern Democrat roots at the state level during the [[civil rights movement]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Virginia Elections Database » Search Elections|url=https://historical.elections.virginia.gov/elections/search/year_from:1916/year_to:2020/office_id:6|access-date=December 13, 2021|website=Virginia Elections Database}}</ref>

In 1856, Shenandoah County was the only county in Virginia to record votes in favor of the candidate of the newly formed Republican Party, [[John C. Frémont]].
{{PresHead|place=Shenandoah County, Virginia|source=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Atlas of US Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=December 8, 2020}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|17,215|6,914|360|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|16,463|6,836|385|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|14,094|5,273|1,141|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|12,538|6,469|366|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|12,005|6,912|306|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|11,820|5,186|140|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|9,636|4,420|396|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|7,440|4,224|1,616|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|7,746|3,956|2,194|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|8,612|3,276|116|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|9,048|2,771|81|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|7,517|3,137|549|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|6,296|3,364|170|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|7,128|1,422|94|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|5,461|1,654|1,566|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1964|Republican|3,981|3,184|3|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|4,144|2,053|2|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|4,164|1,769|86|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|4,284|1,734|6|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1948|Republican|3,349|1,603|228|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|3,517|1,962|6|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|3,527|2,450|14|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1936|Republican|3,152|2,861|15|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|2,514|2,635|68|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|3,420|1,589|0|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|2,214|2,186|137|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|2,683|2,077|27|Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|1,425|1,440|61|Virginia}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Democratic|706|1,336|515|Virginia}}