Wilkinson County, Georgia

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox U.S. county Wilkinson County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,877.<ref name="QF">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">US 2020 Census Bureau report, Wilkinson County, Georgia</ref> The county seat is Irwinton.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> The county was created on May 11, 1803, and named for General James Wilkinson (1757–1825).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (1.0%) is water.<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref> The county is located mainly in the upper Atlantic coastal plain region of the state, but does have some rolling hills due to its close proximity to the fall line.

The entirety of Wilkinson County is located in the Lower Oconee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Major highways

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Adjacent counties

Baldwin County (north)
Bleckley County (south)
Washington County (northeast)
Johnson County (east)
Laurens County (southeast)
Twiggs County (southwest)
Jones County (northwest)

Communities

Cities

Towns

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Unincorporated communities

Nicklesville
Stephensville

Demographics

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Wilkinson County racial composition as of 2020<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	5,110	57.56%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	3,163	35.63%
Native American	30	0.34%
Asian	22	0.25%
Pacific Islander	3	0.03%
Other/Mixed	310	3.49%
Hispanic or Latino	239	2.69%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 8,877 people, 3,185 households, and 2,079 families residing in the county.

Politics

Wilkinson County voted for every Democratic presidential nominee from 1828 to 1960; note that 1828 was the first year in which Georgia held a popular vote for presidential electors and also the first year in which the Democratic Party ran a presidential candidate. However, there was at least one example of Republican success in the county during Reconstruction: in the 1868 gubernatorial election, which was held in April, the Republican ticket swept the county, with Rufus Bullock receiving 59% of the vote; the Republican candidate for county ordinary won by just 1.7%.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Decades later, in the 1948 presidential election Harry Truman only won the county by one vote from States’ Rights candidate Strom Thurmond.

In 1964, Wilkinson County voted overwhelmingly for Barry Goldwater, the first Republican presidential nominee to win the county. It also delivered large victories to segregationist American Independent Party candidate George Wallace and Republican Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972 respectively. In the presidential elections of both 1976 and 1980, former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, won the county easily.

In 1984, Democrat Walter Mondale won the county by a 9% margin, which was only the second presidential result in the county within 30% since 1912. This was also the first time since 1848, when Whig Zachary Taylor narrowly won Georgia, that the county voted for a presidential candidate who did not win the state. In the following three presidential elections, Wilkinson continued to give Democratic candidates between 53% and 59% of the vote.

In 2000, Al Gore won Wilkinson County by a margin of 1.3%, or 84 votes, receiving 50.4% to George W. Bush's 48.1%. The county then voted for all three Republican nominees from 2004 to 2012, each time by a margin of less than 1.5%. In 2016, it voted for Donald Trump by a margin of just over 10%. Wilkinson was thus one of many counties in Georgia's historic black belt that demonstrated a significant swing in favor of Republican presidential candidates from 2012 to 2016. Similarly, the county swung from a 0.25% victory for the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee<ref name="2014 election results">Template:Cite web</ref> to an 11.63% victory for the 2018 Republican gubernatorial nominee.<ref name="2018 election results">Template:Cite web</ref>

Even as it has become more favorable to Republicans at the state and federal level, Wilkinson's county government continued to be dominated by Democrats up until the 2020s. For most of this century the Democratic primary was often tantamount to election. In 2016, Democrats won all six county executive offices without Republican opposition, as well as the three school board seats up for election that year. While the Republican district attorney for the district that includes Wilkinson was also unopposed, he received only 65.6% of ballots cast, compared to at least 72.4% for each unopposed Democratic countywide official.<ref name="2016 election results">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, Democratic incumbents were reelected unopposed to two of the county's five commission seats unopposed and to a third seat by a 25% margin, as well as winning the race for commission chair unopposed. The Democratic candidate in the open first commission district lost, but by just 2.7%. Both school board members up that year were unopposed Democratic incumbents.<ref name="2018 election results" />

Similarly, the overwhelming majority of primary voters in Wilkinson have chosen Democratic ballots even in recent years, presidential primaries excepted. In 2014, 2,022 of 2,174 primary voters (93.0%) chose Democratic ballots. In 2016, 1,726 of 2,033 primary voters (84.9%) did so, and in 2018, 1,186 of the 1,862 primary voters (63.7%) did so, even in the context of a competitive statewide Republican primary for governor.<ref name="Georgia voter history files">Template:Cite web</ref> Three incumbent county commissioners faced opponents in their 2018 primaries; the incumbent county commission chair lost, and the District 2 incumbent won by just one vote.<ref name="2018 primary election results">Template:Cite web</ref>

Prior to the November 2022 elections, Democrats held a majority or 4 out of 5 seats on the County Commission. On election night, a Republican defeated the incumbent Democratic chairman by nearly 20 percentage points. Republicans were also able to flip an additional seat on the commission previously held by a Democrat, and in doing so captured a 3–2 majority. Republicans also captured a seat on the local Board of Education, in which they had none prior to the election.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Government

Current county officials:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Category	Specific office	Name	Party	Year of last election
Executive or judicial office	Clerk of Superior Court	Cinda Sloan Bright	D	2020
Executive or judicial office	Coroner	William “Billy” Matthews	R	2020
Executive or judicial office	Probate/Magistrate Judge	Lisa Vance Dykes	R	2020
Executive or judicial office	Sheriff	Richard Chatman	D	2020
Executive or judicial office	County Surveyor	Donald D. Brooks	D	2020
Executive or judicial office	Tax Commissioner	Jemesha Anderson	D
Board of Commissioners	Chairman	Anthony Bentley	R	2024 Special
Board of Commissioners	District 1	Zachery Shepherd	R	2022
Board of Commissioners	District 2	James Hagins	D	2022
Board of Commissioners	District 3	Robert Dames	R	2022
Board of Commissioners	District 4	Anderson Ford	D	2022
Board of Education	Chairman	Roger Smith	D	2020
Board of Education	District 1	Leigh Scott	R	2022
Board of Education	District 2	Kimberly S. Watkins	D	2022
Board of Education	District 3	Leroy Strange	D	2020
Board of Education	District 4	Charles Pitts	D	2020

Education

The only school district is the Wilkinson County School District.<ref>Template:Cite web - Text list</ref>

Notes

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References

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Template:Geographic Location Template:Wilkinson County, Georgia Template:Macon Metro Template:Georgia (U.S. state)

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