Editing Preston County, West Virginia (section)

==Politics and government==
===Federal politics===
Preston County lies within [[West Virginia's 2nd congressional district]]. The current representative of the district is [[Riley Moore]] (R).

Generally speaking, most of the State of West Virginia has become a Republican bastion in the 21st century, after having leaned heavily Democratic between the [[New Deal]] and [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Bill Clinton]]). However, Preston County has seemingly always been a Republican stronghold, if not quite as ‘rock-ribbed’ as its neighbor, [[Grant County, West Virginia|Grant County]], or nearby [[Garrett County, Maryland]], two counties that have historically ''never'' voted for a Democrat in the post-Civil War years. Preston County has, by comparison, voted Democratic on at least one occasion, during [[Lyndon Johnson]]’s 1964 landslide election; however, Johnson's win over [[Barry Goldwater]] was much more decisive than his narrow victory in analogous [[Upshur County, West Virginia#Politics|Upshur County]], and Bill Clinton came within 20 votes in 1996.
{| class=wikitable
! colspan = 6 | Voter Registration and Party Enrollment of Preston County<<ref>{{cite web |url= https://sos.wv.gov/elections/Documents/VoterRegistrationTotals/2023/Jul2023.pdf|title=West Virginia Voter Registration|author=<!--Not stated--> |date=July 31, 2023 |publisher=West Virginia Secretary of State|access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref>
|-
! colspan = 2 | Party
! Total
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}}
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 4,302
| style="text-align:center;" | 22.25%
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 10,264
| style="text-align:center;" | 53.10%
|-
| {{party color cell|Libertarian Party (United States)}}
| Independents, unaffiliated, and other
| style="text-align:center;" | 4,765
| style="text-align:center;" | 24.65%
|-
! colspan = 2 | Total
! style="text-align:center;" | 19,371
! style="text-align:center;" | 100.00%
|}

{{PresHead|place=Preston County, West Virginia|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 28, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|11,176|2,953|340|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|11,190|3,163|220|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|9,538|2,470|756|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|7,889|2,931|363|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|7,325|4,205|266|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|7,855|3,963|111|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|6,607|3,515|317|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|4,257|4,237|1,812|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|4,429|3,933|2,133|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|5,804|4,357|35|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|6,955|4,054|22|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|5,828|4,317|601|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|5,719|5,595|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|7,807|2,977|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|5,636|4,020|561|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|4,015|6,264|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|6,908|4,221|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|7,953|3,365|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|8,059|4,278|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1948|Republican|6,020|3,527|49|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|6,785|2,997|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|8,213|4,730|0|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1936|Republican|7,553|5,410|34|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1932|Republican|6,359|4,872|115|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|7,783|2,355|78|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|6,396|2,445|534|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|6,729|2,150|125|West Virginia}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|3,838|1,694|105|West Virginia}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Progressive|1,461|1,845|2,608|West Virginia}}

===State politics===
Preston County is represented by two Senators in the [[West Virginia Senate]]. Senate members Jay Taylor (R), and Randy Smith (R) both serve in [[West Virginia's 14th Senate district]].<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.wvlegislature.gov/districts/SD/sd_rc.cfm |title=Senate District Map |publisher=West Virginia Legislature}}</ref> The county is also represented in the [[West Virginia House of Delegates]] by two Delegates. The Delegates for Preston County are George Street (R) for district 83 and D. Rolland Jennings (R) for district 84.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.wvlegislature.gov/districts/SD/sd_rc.cfm |title=House Select Committee on Redistricting |publisher=West Virginia Legislature}}</ref>

===County government===
Preston County is governed by a County Commission. The commission is made up of the Commission President and Commissioners whom wield administrative powers of the county's government. Samantha Stone (R) is the current President of the County Commission.

The Preston County Commission consists of two members. The current members of the County Commission are Don Smith (R) and Hunter Thomas (R).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://prestoncountywv.gov/county-commission/|title=COUNTY COMMISSION |website=Preston County Commission}}</ref>