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Reynolds County, Missouri (view source)
Revision as of 23:32, September 28, 2020
, 23:32, September 28, 2020Added to page
* [[Centerville, Missouri|Centerville]] (county seat)
* [[Centerville, Missouri|Centerville]] (county seat)
* [[Ellington, Missouri|Ellington]]
* [[Ellington, Missouri|Ellington]]
==Government==
Local government in Reynolds County is provided by the elected officials. At present, all these positions are held by members of the [[Democratic]] party.<ref>https://www.mocounties.com/reynolds-county.php</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Countywide official !! Name !! Party
|-
| Assessor || Rick Parker || Democratic
|-
| Circuit Clerk || Brandi Freeman || Democratic
|-
| County Clerk || Mike Harper || Democratic
|-
| Collector || Kathy Hoffman || Democratic
|-
| Commissioner (presiding) || Joe Loyd || Democratic
|-
| Commissioner (District 1) || Doug Warren || Democratic
|-
| Commissioner (District 2) || Eddie Williams || Democratic
|-
| Coroner || Jeffrey McSpadden || Democratic
|-
| Prosecuting Attorney || Michael Randazzo || Democratic
|-
| Public Administrator || Robyn Gray || Democratic
|-
| Recorder || Brandi Freeman || Democratic
|-
| Sheriff || Tom Stout || Democratic
|-
| Surveyor || Ronald Schwarz || Democratic
|-
| Treasurer || Wanda Corder || Democratic
|}
At the state level, Reynolds County is part of two legislative districts in the Missouri House of Representatives. The northwestern corner, including the city of Bunker, is part of the 143rd District, which also includes all of Dent, Oregon, and Shannon Counties. It is currently represented by Jeff Pogue (R-Salem), who was elected to his fourth and final term in November 2018 without opposition.
Most of the county, including the cities of Centerville and Ellington, is part of the 144th District, which also includes all of Iron County and portions of Washington and Wayne Counties. It is currently represented by Chris Dinkins (R-[[Annapolis, Missouri|Annapolis]]), who was elected to her second term in November 2018 without opposition.
In the Missouri State Senate, Reynolds County is part of the 3rd District, which also includes Iron, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, and Washington Counties, and part of Jefferson County. It was most recently represented by Gary Romine (R-Farmington), who was re-elected in November 2016, defeating [[Green Party]] candidate Edward Weissler.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Candidate !! Party !! Votes !! Vote Percentage
|-
| Gary Romine || Republican || 54,414 || 81.253%
|-
| Edward R. Weissler || Green || 12,555 || 18.747%
|}
Romine somewhat overperformed in Reynolds County, winning 2,308 votes to 353 for Weissler. Romine resigned his seat in January 2020 to serve on the Missouri State Tax Commission; the seat remains vacant pending the November 2020 general election.
At the federal level, Reynolds 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 slightly overperformed his average margin in Reynolds County, winning 75.139% of the vote.<ref>https://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/s_default</ref>
'''Political Culture'''
As the above numbers indicate, despite voting solidly Democratic on the local level, Reynolds County is at present a fairly reliably [[Republican]] county at the state and national level. This is a somewhat recent development; during the 20th century, it voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in all but two elections (1960 and 1972). The traditionally Democratic-leaning miners of the "Lead Belt" played a part in this, though less so than in the mining heartlands to the north and east. It voted for [[George W. Bush]] in 2000, however, and has steadily trended Republican since then, as blue-collar workers became alienated by the Democratic Party’s social radicalism. In 2016, [[Donald Trump]] carried the county with 79.20% of the vote.<ref>https://enrarchives.sos.mo.gov/enrnet/CountyResults.aspx</ref>
Like much of southern Missouri, Reynolds County can be included within the [[Bible Belt]], combining 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 Iron County with 85.41% support. In 2006, while the state narrowly passed an amendment to fund embryonic stem-cell research, the county decisively defeated the measure with 54.15% voting against. At the same time, it often supports economic measures that appear to favor the working and middle class. In the November 2018 election, the county supported a proposed increase in the state minimum wage, with 54.81% voting in favor (it passed the state at large). These results generally align with the rest of southern Missouri.
==References==
==References==