County with the longest streak of backing the losing candidate?

[Sir Mohamed]

There are lots of discussions about Kerry/McCain or Romney/Clinton counties (for example)... Though I wonder which county has the longest streak of backing the losing presidential candidate?

Maybe there are some Goldwater-Humphrey (or Wallace)-McGovern-Ford counties? Any suggestions?

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Not a County, but Lower Moreland Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania voted for Bush 92 - Dole 96 - Gore 00 - Kerry 04 - McCain 08 - Romney 12 - Clinton 16. It might have gone for losing candidates even farther back than that, as I can only find results dating back to 1992 for this one.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

There are lots of discussions about Kerry/McCain or Romney/Clinton counties (for example)... Though I wonder which county has the longest streak of backing the losing presidential candidate?

Maybe there are some Goldwater-Humphrey (or Wallace)-McGovern-Ford counties? Any suggestions?

By "losing" you mean losing the electoral vote?

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Georgia: Cobb, Gwinnett, Henry (wrong since 2008)
Texas: Fort Bend (wrong since 2008)

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

There are lots of discussions about Kerry/McCain or Romney/Clinton counties (for example)... Though I wonder which county has the longest streak of backing the losing presidential candidate?

Maybe there are some Goldwater-Humphrey (or Wallace)-McGovern-Ford counties? Any suggestions?

Literally every county in Mississippi voted for the losing candidate both in 1964 and 1968.

[Senator Incitatus]

I think this has come up before. The highest we could find was 6, and it wasn't that interesting – just strong D counties during the period of six consecutive Republican victories. None of those counties flipped to Blaine in 1884 to continue the streak.

No recent streak comes close since there were famously only two Dole-Gore counties in the entire country.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Georgia: Cobb, Gwinnett, Henry (wrong since 2008)
Texas: Fort Bend (wrong since 2008)

Orange, California; Anne Arundel, Maryland; Haines, Alaska; have identically long current losing streaks.

[Senator Incitatus]

Update: I revisited the 1860-1880 data and I think I have the definitive answer. Hopefully we can lay this question to rest.

By my count, 199 counties voted for a losing candidate in all 6 elections.

Twenty-odd of those counties, mostly in Kentucky, voted for Fillmore in 1856. (Only a handful voted for Frémont.) Kentucky being the home of Henry Clay and a Whig stronghold at the time, 16 such counties also voted for Scott in 1852, extending their streak to 8. However, their streaks all end there as Zach Taylor won and carried all of these counties in 1848.

Only two of the original 199 counties voted for James Blaine in 1884 – Greene, NY and Livingston, MO. Remarkably, both flipped back to Cleveland in 1888, extending their streaks to 8.

Greene then voted for Harrison in 1892, making it 9. That streak ended when Greene voted for McKinley in 1896.

So there's your answer. Greene County, NY (which is a lovely place) picked losers in nine consecutive elections: 1860–92.

It is the nation's only Douglas*–McClellan–Seymour–Greeley–Tilden–Hancock–Blaine–Cleveland–Harrison county.

[Kodak]

Holmes County, Mississippi voted Thurman-Stevenson-Unpledged-Unpledged-Goldwater-Wallace-McGovern, for a 7-election losing streak in the 20th century.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

So there's your answer. Greene County, NY (which is a lovely place) picked losers in nine consecutive elections: 1860–92.

It is the nation's only Douglas*–McClellan–Seymour–Greeley–Tilden–Hancock–Blaine–Cleveland–Harrison county.

Good work! 👍🏻
And it gets even better; Greene County also votes for the loser in many Democratic primaries:
It chose Clinton in 2012 and Bernie in 2016; it voted for Teachout this year and four years ago; C. Nixon won it, too, but they chose Hochul over Williams, which is quite ironic, since the Lieutenant Governor primary delivered the closest result of all three primaries of this year.

They really seem to hate the Establishment, don't they?

[Senator Incitatus]

So there's your answer. Greene County, NY (which is a lovely place) picked losers in nine consecutive elections: 1860–92.

It is the nation's only Douglas*–McClellan–Seymour–Greeley–Tilden–Hancock–Blaine–Cleveland–Harrison county.

Good work! 👍🏻
And it gets even better; Greene County also votes for the loser in many Democratic primaries:
It chose Clinton in 2012 and Bernie in 2016; it voted for Teachout this year and four years ago; C. Nixon won it, too, but they chose Hochul over Williams, which is quite ironic, since the Lieutenant Governor primary delivered the closest result of all three primaries of this year.

They really seem to hate the Establishment, don't they?

My only first-hand experience with Greene County is that they seem to be very pro-gun.

[nclib]

What about losers of the popular vote? I think there are a couple Bush-Kerry-McCain-Romney-Trump counties in eastern Kentucky.