In fairness, the electorate shrank and got more Democratic across the whole country in 1996.
“Time” noted the county’s developing trend, away from the Republicans, in its post-Election 1996.
2008—a realigning presidential election for the Democrats—made it official with the county having carried for Team Blue first time since 1964. (Coincidence?)
Is the word 'coincidence' at the end meant to be a non-sequitur? Certainly that a county voted the same way in 1964 and 2008 is a coincidence, since the candidates, issues, and political geography had utterly changed in that time, and also not a very notable one (there are hundreds of counties that voted D in both 1964 and 2008).
