Editing Hancock County, West Virginia (section)

==Government==
Hancock County is governed by a three-member [[Government of West Virginia#Local government|County Commission]] who each serve in rotating six-year terms. The terms are designed such that one seat is up for election in even years. The County Commission annually chooses its own president. The Hancock County Commissioners in 2024 are Paul Cowey, Jeff Davis and Eron Chek.<ref name="Election">West Virginia Secretary of State; [http://apps.sos.wv.gov/elections/results/index.aspx?year=2012&eid= Election Results Center]</ref>

In the [[West Virginia Circuit Courts]], Hancock County is part of the First Family Court Circuit of West Virginia, which also includes [[Brooke County, West Virginia|Brooke]] and [[Ohio County, West Virginia|Ohio]] Counties. In West Virginia, Family Court Judges were first elected to six-year terms beginning in 2002 and were elected to eight-year terms beginning in 2008. The current judges of the First Family Court Circuit are the Hon. Joyce Chernenko and the Hon. Heather Wood.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=January 16, 2024 |title=Hancock County Judiciary |url=https://www.courtswv.gov/public-resources/court-information-county/hancock |website=West Virginia Judiciary}}</ref> Additionally, Hancock County is part of the First Judicial Circuit of West Virginia, which again also includes Brooke and Ohio Counties. Circuit Judges are elected in non-partisan elections to eight-year terms. The current judges of the First Judicial Circuit are the Hon. Jason A. Cuomo, the Hon. Michael J. Olejasz, the Hon. David J. Sims, and the Hon. Ronald E. Wilson.<ref name=":0" />

Magistrates are elected in partisan elections serving four-year terms. Vacancies occurring in unexpired terms can be filled by a respective Circuit Court Judge. Unlike Circuit Court judges or Family Court judges, magistrates are not required to be attorneys. Hancock County currently has three magistrates: Ralph A. Fletcher, Omeka D. Petteway, and Stephen Svokas.<ref name=":0" />

Other elected officials are Sheriff Scott Gittings, Circuit Clerk Sandy Casto, County Clerk Karan Valenti, Assessor Joe Alongi and Prosecuting Attorney Steven E. Dragisich.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WV SOS - Elections - Election Results - Online Data Services |url=http://apps.sos.wv.gov/elections/results/index.aspx?year=2012&eid=}}</ref>

===Politics===
Abutting the [[slave states and free states|free states]] of [[Ohio]] and [[Pennsylvania]], and with a largely [[German Americans|German–American]] culture unlike any other part of antebellum [[Virginia]], Hancock County and the rest of the Northern Panhandle were central to the vanguard who made West Virginia a new state during [[American Civil War|the Civil War]].<ref>MacKenzie, Scott; ‘The Fifth Border State: Slavery and the Formation of West Virginia, 1850-1868’ (thesis), ''Auburn University Electronic Theses and Dissertations''</ref><ref>Link, William A.; [https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/wvhistory/files/pdf/06_wv_history_reader_link.pdf ‘This Bastard New Virginia: Slavery, West Virginia Exceptionalism, and the Secession Crisis’]</ref> For the next six and a half decades the county, aided by its association with Pennsylvania's powerful ironmaster-led political machines, voted solidly [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] to the point of supporting [[William Howard Taft]] during the disastrously divided 1912 election. From the [[New Deal]] until the presidency of [[presidency of Bill Clinton|Bill Clinton]], however, powerful unionization meant that Hancock County turned from solidly Republican to solidly [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]], with the exception of [[George McGovern]] in 1972. Like all of West Virginia, since 2000 a combination of declining unionization and growing differences with the Democratic Party on social issues has produced a swing back to the Republican Party.<ref>Schwartzman, Gabe; [http://www.dailyyonder.com/how-coalfields-went-gop/2015/01/13/7668/ ‘How Central Appalachia Went Right’]; ''Daily Yonder'', January 13, 2015</ref><ref>Cohn, Nate; [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/upshot/southern-whites-loyalty-to-gop-nearing-that-of-blacks-to-democrats.html ‘Demographic Shift: Southern Whites’ Loyalty to G.O.P. Nearing That of Blacks to Democrats’], ''[[New York Times]]'', April 24, 2014</ref>

{{PresHead|place=Hancock County, West Virginia|source1=<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leip |first=David |title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections |url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS |access-date=March 19, 2018 |website=uselectionatlas.org}}</ref>|source2=<ref>The leading "other" candidate, [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressive]] [[Theodore Roosevelt]], received 557 votes, while Socialist candidate [[Eugene V. Debs|Eugene Debs]] received 125 votes.</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|9,462|3,360|208|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|9,806|3,790|206|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|8,909|3,262|631|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|7,226|4,627|297|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|7,518|5,504|198|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|7,298|6,906|117|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|6,458|6,249|765|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|4,268|7,521|2,231|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|3,897|7,830|3,309|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|5,882|8,338|60|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|7,326|8,708|90|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|6,610|8,784|1,081|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|6,771|10,627|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|10,634|6,727|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|6,181|10,174|2,476|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|5,009|14,001|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|8,031|11,176|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|8,750|9,524|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|6,520|9,772|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|4,561|8,242|170|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|4,285|7,334|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|4,997|8,515|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|3,957|7,756|58|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|4,328|4,603|289|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|5,461|1,884|29|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|3,775|1,187|349|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|2,768|1,435|161|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|1,434|891|117|West Virginia}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Republican|664|634|682|West Virginia}}