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Bollinger County, Missouri (view source)
Revision as of 19:36, January 26, 2020
, 19:36, January 26, 2020Added to page
* [[Sedgewickville, Missouri|Sedgewickville]]
* [[Sedgewickville, Missouri|Sedgewickville]]
* [[Zalma, Missouri|Zalma]]
* [[Zalma, Missouri|Zalma]]
==Government==
Local government in Bollinger County is provided by the elected officials. Traditionally, these have been dominated by the [[Republican]] Party, which at present holds all the elected positions.<ref>https://www.mocounties.com/bollinger-county.php</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Countywide official !! Name !! Party
|-
| Assessor || Ronda Elfrink || Republican
|-
| Circuit Clerk || Dana Mayfield || Republican
|-
| County Clerk || Brittany Hovis || Republican
|-
| Collector || Sonya Fulton || Republican
|-
| Commissioner (presiding) || Leo Arnzen || Republican
|-
| Commissioner (District 1) || Roger VanGennip || Republican
|-
| Commissioner (District 2) || Roy Garner || Republican
|-
| Coroner || Charles Hutchings || Republican
|-
| Prosecuting Attorney || Stephen Gray || Republican
|-
| Public Administrator || Larry Welker || Republican
|-
| Recorder || Dana Fulbright || Republican
|-
| Sheriff || Darin Shell || Republican
|-
| Treasurer || Scott Minson || Republican
|}
At the state level, Bollinger County is part of the 145th District in the Missouri House of Representatives, which also includes Madison County and the southern part of Perry County. It is currently represented by Rick Francis (R-Perryville), who was re-elected to his second term in November 2018, defeating Democrat Ronald G. Pember.
{| class="wikitable"
! Candidate !! Party !! Votes !! Vote Percentage
|-
| Rick Francis || Republican || 11,381 || 82.316%
|-
| Gayla A. Dace || Democratic || 2,445 || 17.684%
|}
Francis overperformed within Bollinger County, winning by a margin of 4,056 to 678.
In the Missouri State Senate, Bollinger County is part of the 27th District, which also includes Cape Girardeau, Madison, Perry, [[Scott County, Missouri|Scott]], and Wayne Counties. It is currently represented by Wayne Wallingford (R-Cape Girardeau), who was re-elected in November 2016, defeating Democrat Donnie Owens.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Candidate !! Party !! Votes !! Vote Percentage
|-
| Wayne Wallingford || Republican || 56,750 || 74.440%
|-
| Donnie Owens || Democratic || 19,486 || 25.560%
|}
Wallingford somewhat overperformed in Bollinger County, winning 4,370 votes to 1,059 for Owens.
At the federal level, Bollinger County is part of Missouri's 8th Congressional District, which includes most of southeast and south-central Missouri. It is represented by Jason Smith (R-Salem), who won re-election in November 2018, defeating Democrat Kathy Ellis.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Candidate !! Party !! Votes !! Vote Percentage
|-
| Jason Smith || Republican || 194,042 || 73.39%
|-
| Kathy Ellis || Democratic || 66,151 || 25.019%
|-
| Jonathan Shell || Libertarian || 4,206 || 1.591%
|}
Smith significantly overperformed his average margin in Bollinger County, winning 82.811% of the vote.<ref>https://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/s_default</ref>
'''Political Culture'''
As the above numbers indicate, Bollinger County is solidly Republican at the state and federal level, and has in fact been known as a traditional stronghold for the Missouri GOP since the early 20th century. It has not voted for a [[Democrat]] for president since 1976 (and only twice in the sixty years before that), or for governor since 1996. In fact, it has only trended more strongly Republican in recent years, with its rural, mostly middle- and working-class population being alienated by the Democratic Party's social radicalism. In the 2016 general election, the county overwhelmingly supported [[Donald Trump]], who won 85.04% of the vote, his second-highest margin of victory in the state.<ref>https://enrarchives.sos.mo.gov/enrnet/CountyResults.aspx</ref>
Like much of southern Missouri, Bollinger County can be included within the [[Bible Belt]], and tends to combine social [[conservatism]] with economic [[populism]]. In 2004, it voted overwhelmingly in favor of Constitutional Amendment 2, which recognized marriage as between a man and a woman only—the measure passed in Bollinger County with 88.78% support. In 2006, while the state overall narrowly passed an amendment to fund embryonic stem-cell research, the county decisively defeated the measure with 67.72% voting against. At the same time, it often supports economic measures that appear to favor the working and middle class--though this happens less frequently than elsewhere in Southeast Missouri, possibly because of its longer tradition of identifying with the Republican Party. In the November 2018 election, the county rejected a proposed increase in the state minimum wage, with 56.44% voting against (though it passed the state at large). These results mark Bollinger County as one of the state's most reliably [[conservative]] regions.
==References==
==References==