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Washington County, Missouri (view source)
Revision as of 00:37, October 9, 2020
, 00:37, October 9, 2020Added to page
* [[Caledonia, Missouri|Caledonia]]
* [[Caledonia, Missouri|Caledonia]]
* [[Mineral Point, Missouri|Mineral Point]]
* [[Mineral Point, Missouri|Mineral Point]]
==Government==
Local government in Washington County is provided by the elected officials. At present, the [[Republican]] party holds a majority of these positions.<ref>https://www.washingtoncountymo.us/</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Countywide official !! Name !! Party
|-
| Assessor || Debbie Summers || Democratic
|-
| Circuit Clerk || Ashley Gum || Republican
|-
| County Clerk || Jeanette Allen || Republican
|-
| Collector || Carla Zettler || Republican
|-
| Commissioner (presiding) || Dave Sansegraw || Republican
|-
| Commissioner (District 1) || Doug Short || Republican
|-
| Commissioner (District 2) || Cody Brinley || Republican
|-
| Coroner || Brian DeClue || Democratic
|-
| Prosecuting Attorney || Joshua E. Hedgecorth || Democratic
|-
| Public Administrator || Beverly Boyer || Republican
|-
| Recorder || Jamie Miner || Republican
|-
| Sheriff || Zach Jacobsen || Republican
|-
| Surveyor || R. Timothy Daugherty || Democratic
|-
| Treasurer || Phyllis Long || Republican
|}
At the state level, Washington County is part of three separate districts in the Missouri House of Representatives. The central and northeastern parts of the county, including a portion of the city of Potosi, is part of the 118th District, which also includes part of Jefferson County. It is currently represented by Mike McGirl (R-Potosi), who was elected to his first term in November 2018, defeating Democrat Barbara Marco.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Candidate !! Party !! Votes !! Vote Percentage
|-
| Mike McGirl || Republican || 8,215 || 65.594%
|-
| Barbara Marco || Democratic || 4,309 || 34.406%
|}
McGirl somewhat overperformed in Washington County, winning 2,879 votes to 1,065 for Marco.
The rural northwestern part of the county is part of the 119th District, which also includes part of Franklin County. It is currently represented by Nate Tate (R-St. Clair), who was elected to his second term in November 2018, defeating Democrat Marcie Nichols.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Candidate !! Party !! Votes !! Vote Percentage
|-
| Nate Tate || Republican || 9,164 || 70.819%
|-
| Marcie Nichols || Democratic || 3,776 || 29.181%
|}
Tate slightly underperformed in Washington County, winning 330 votes to 154 for Nichols.
The southernmost part of the county, including the rest of Potosi, is part of the 144th District, which also includes Iron and parts of Reynolds and Wayne Counties. It is currently represented by Chris Dinkins (R-Annapolis), who was elected to her second term in November 2018 without opposition.
In the Missouri State Senate, Washington County is part of the 3rd District, which also includes Iron, [[Reynolds County, Missouri|Reynolds]], St. Francois, and Ste. Genevieve 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 slightly overperformed in Washington County, winning 7,071 votes to 1,437 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, Iron 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 underperformed his average margin in Washington County, winning 69.230% of the vote.<ref>https://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/s_default</ref>
'''Political Culture'''
As the above numbers indicate, Washington County is at present a fairly reliably [[Republican]] county, although somewhat less so than other counties in southern Missouri. Throughout the 20th century, the presence of a sizable but not overwhelming contingent of unionized (and therefore strongly [[Democratic]]) mine workers made it something of a battleground county; from 1948 to 1996, it almost always chose the eventual winner of the presidential elections (except in 1960 and 1988). It strongly supported [[Bill Clinton]] in 1992 and 1996, and in 2008, it voted for [[Barack Obama]] over [[John McCain]] (albeit by a margin of only five votes). Since then, however, it has steadily trended Republican, as blue-collar workers became alienated by the Democratic Party’s social radicalism. In 2016, [[Donald Trump]] carried the county with 75.93% of the vote.<ref>https://enrarchives.sos.mo.gov/enrnet/CountyResults.aspx</ref>
Like much of southern Missouri, Washington County can be included within the [[Bible Belt]], combining social [[conservatism]] with economic [[populism]]--though the latter is more pronounced than in other areas, on account of the mining culture’s legacy. 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 Washington County with 81.37% support. In 2006, while the state narrowly passed an amendment to fund embryonic stem-cell research, the county decisively defeated the measure with 56.48% voting against. At the same time, it often supports economic measures that appear to favor the working and middle class, more frequently than much of the region. In the November 2018 election, the county supported a proposed increase in the state minimum wage, with 57.26% voting in favor (it passed the state at large). These results mark Washington County as an independent but right-leaning county.
==References==
==References==