Fannin County, GA

[JRP1994]

It seems to be an inexplicable bastion of Republican support, even during the time period in which the Democrat Party controlled the Solid South (Fannin never voted for FDR, Adlai Stevenson, or LBJ).

Here is how Fannin County has voted, going back to the formation of both major parties.

2012: Republican
2008: Republican
2004: Republican
2000: Republican
1996: Republican
1992: Republican
1988: Republican
1984: Republican
1980: Republican
1976: Democrat
1972: Republican
1968: Republican
1964: Republican
1960: Republican
1956: Republican
1952: Republican
1948: Republican
1944: Republican
1940: Republican
1936: Republican
1932: Republican
1928: Republican
1924: Republican
1920: Republican
1916: No Candidate
1912: Democrat
1908: Republican
1904: Republican
1900: Democrat
1896: Republican
1892: Republican
1888: Republican
1884: Republican
1880: Democrat
1876: Democrat
1872: Republican
1868: Republican
1864: No Vote
1860: Southern Democrat
1856: Democrat

Why is Fannin County so Republican?

[Sol]

I suspect Fannin County is similar to some Western TN counties, which were historically unionist and went on from there.

[DC Al Fine]

I suspect Fannin County is similar to some Western TN counties, which were historically unionist and went on from there.

Fannin County borders Eastern Tennessee which has been a Republican bastion for a loooonnngg time. I suspect Fannin is GOP for the same reason Chattanooga is.

[Miles]

I suspect Fannin County is similar to some Western TN counties, which were historically unionist and went on from there.

Fannin County borders Eastern Tennessee which has been a Republican bastion for a loooonnngg time. I suspect Fannin is GOP for the same reason Chattanooga is.

Thats what I thougth too, but was still much more R than the other GA counties around it. Examples:

1948:



1952:



1960:

[JRP1994]

I suspect Fannin County is similar to some Western TN counties, which were historically unionist and went on from there.

Fannin County borders Eastern Tennessee which has been a Republican bastion for a loooonnngg time. I suspect Fannin is GOP for the same reason Chattanooga is.

Thats what I thougth too, but was still much more R than the other GA counties around it. Examples:

1948:



1952:



1960:

That's definitely a major part of it. Fannin seems to have gotten an over-dose of Republicanism - there have been times (see 1936 and 1940) when Fannin was the only county in Georgia to vote against FDR, including all Fannin's neighbors.

1936: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/1936prescountymap.PNG
1940: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/1940prescountymap2.png

[ElectionsGuy]

It's 97.5% White... enough said. Northern Georgia/Northern South Carolina/Eastern Tennessee/Western North Carolina is a huge supportive republican area.

[old timey villain]

It's 97.5% White... enough said. Northern Georgia/Northern South Carolina/Eastern Tennessee/Western North Carolina is a huge supportive republican area.

That's not the point. The question is why was did Fannin County support Republicans even when the rest of Georgia strongly supported Democrats?

[memphis]

Same reason East Tennessee was. Cotton doesn't grow well on mountaintops.

[Stranger in a strange land]

Unionist stronghold, similar to adjacent areas in Tennessee.

[ElectionsGuy]

It's 97.5% White... enough said. Northern Georgia/Northern South Carolina/Eastern Tennessee/Western North Carolina is a huge supportive republican area.

That's not the point. The question is why was did Fannin County support Republicans even when the rest of Georgia strongly supported Democrats?

Well, I always thought that that specific area and county region was the safest region for republicans and the start of the republican trail of counties. Also they were unionist right? People on the forum seem to be saying that. Maybe this county is just extra stubborn.

[old timey villain]

Fannin County is very mountainous and rugged

Besides being beautiful, it was also a landscape unfit for large scale plantation farming, so the plantation system didn't exist there. Most people in Fannin would have had no economic reason to support the confederacy during the civil war or southern Democrats in the Jim Crow era.

[BaldEagle1991]

Fannin County is very mountainous and rugged

Besides being beautiful, it was also a landscape unfit for large scale plantation farming, so the plantation system didn't exist there. Most people in Fannin would have had no economic reason to support the confederacy during the civil war or southern Democrats in the Jim Crow era.

But would the people there during that time of the Civil War have at a least family members who be in the plantation farming, would that help push support to a small scale?