McDowell County, West Virginia
Precinct data
Results by precinct
33 precincts · 5,425 votes
Precinct boundaries and identifiers are cycle-specific. This table does not join rows across years without a validated crosswalk.
| Precinct -105105 | 24 | 302 | 5 | 331 | 7.3% | 91.2% | R+84.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Precinct -8484 | 45 | 256 | 4 | 305 | 14.8% | 83.9% | R+69.2 |
| Precinct -104104 | 27 | 272 | 2 | 301 | 9.0% | 90.4% | R+81.4 |
| Precinct -2828 | 103 | 167 | 5 | 275 | 37.5% | 60.7% | R+23.3 |
| Precinct -3434 | 67 | 196 | 4 | 267 | 25.1% | 73.4% | R+48.3 |
| Precinct -102102 | 14 | 208 | 3 | 225 | 6.2% | 92.4% | R+86.2 |
| Precinct -4040 | 72 | 143 | 3 | 218 | 33.0% | 65.6% | R+32.6 |
| Precinct -2020 | 25 | 184 | 4 | 213 | 11.7% | 86.4% | R+74.6 |
| Precinct -100100 | 7 | 200 | 5 | 212 | 3.3% | 94.3% | R+91.0 |
| Precinct -6666 | 69 | 135 | 6 | 210 | 32.9% | 64.3% | R+31.4 |
| Precinct -111111 | 8 | 192 | 1 | 201 | 4.0% | 95.5% | R+91.5 |
| Precinct -7373 | 33 | 156 | 5 | 194 | 17.0% | 80.4% | R+63.4 |
| Precinct -3232 | 33 | 153 | 4 | 190 | 17.4% | 80.5% | R+63.2 |
| Precinct -113113 | 8 | 176 | 4 | 188 | 4.3% | 93.6% | R+89.4 |
| Precinct -2323 | 19 | 142 | 3 | 164 | 11.6% | 86.6% | R+75.0 |
| Precinct -9191 | 23 | 136 | 0 | 159 | 14.5% | 85.5% | R+71.1 |
| Precinct -112112 | 4 | 149 | 5 | 158 | 2.5% | 94.3% | R+91.8 |
| Precinct -7878 | 31 | 118 | 1 | 150 | 20.7% | 78.7% | R+58.0 |
| Precinct -1717 | 34 | 104 | 1 | 139 | 24.5% | 74.8% | R+50.4 |
| Precinct -7272 | 22 | 111 | 0 | 133 | 16.5% | 83.5% | R+66.9 |
| Precinct -107107 | 6 | 121 | 2 | 129 | 4.7% | 93.8% | R+89.1 |
| Precinct -8787 | 25 | 93 | 2 | 120 | 20.8% | 77.5% | R+56.7 |
| Precinct -106106 | 7 | 101 | 1 | 109 | 6.4% | 92.7% | R+86.2 |
| Precinct -116116 | 22 | 81 | 2 | 105 | 21.0% | 77.1% | R+56.2 |
| Precinct -5858 | 36 | 66 | 1 | 103 | 35.0% | 64.1% | R+29.1 |
| Precinct -1111 | 78 | 18 | 0 | 96 | 81.3% | 18.8% | D+62.5 |
| Precinct -5050 | 48 | 43 | 3 | 94 | 51.1% | 45.7% | D+5.3 |
| Precinct -66 | 54 | 36 | 2 | 92 | 58.7% | 39.1% | D+19.6 |
| Precinct -2626 | 13 | 75 | 0 | 88 | 14.8% | 85.2% | R+70.5 |
| Precinct -114114 | 6 | 61 | 0 | 67 | 9.0% | 91.0% | R+82.1 |
| Precinct -11 | 36 | 29 | 0 | 65 | 55.4% | 44.6% | D+10.8 |
| Precinct -9393 | 10 | 53 | 0 | 63 | 15.9% | 84.1% | R+68.3 |
| Precinct -6363 | 27 | 33 | 1 | 61 | 44.3% | 54.1% | R+9.8 |
Presidential margin, 1892–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1892 | −35.1% |
| 1896 | −45.5% |
| 1900 | −51.0% |
| 1904 | −51.2% |
| 1908 | −52.4% |
| 1912 | −19.8% |
| 1916 | −31.4% |
| 1920 | −41.3% |
| 1924 | −34.8% |
| 1928 | −28.2% |
| 1932 | −13.0% |
| 1936 | +43.7% |
| 1940 | +27.5% |
| 1944 | +27.3% |
| 1948 | +37.7% |
| 1952 | +39.6% |
| 1956 | +20.5% |
| 1960 | +49.7% |
| 1964 | +66.1% |
| 1968 | +46.6% |
| 1972 | −13.5% |
| 1976 | +44.0% |
| 1980 | +42.7% |
| 1984 | +33.1% |
| 1988 | +48.8% |
| 1992 | +51.9% |
| 1996 | +54.1% |
| 2000 | +34.2% |
| 2004 | +23.8% |
| 2008 | +8.5% |
| 2012 | −29.9% |
| 2016 | −51.1% |
| 2020 | −58.4% |
| 2024 | −60.4% |
U.S. Senate
Registered voters
By party of registration, over time
McDowell County, WV registers Democratic but votes Republican — a 77-point gap between how voters register and how they vote, the signature of ancestral registration that trails realignment.
11,795 registered voters · 2026
Who moves in and out
Net migration over time, and who arrivals are — where they came from and what those places vote
−111 net domestic migration · 2025
Net −4,552 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Arrivals reported $34,841 in average income, against $48,149 for residents who stayed — 28% lower. (IRS SOI, 2022–23)
The places arrivals came from lean R+57.3 on average — 3.0 points more Democratic-leaning than McDowell County, WV itself (R+60.4).
Where arrivals came from lean of each source
- Mercer County, WV63R+57.3
Where departures went households, 2022–23
- Mercer County, WV64
- Tazewell County, VA26
Migration is one input to a place’s political change, not its cause — a shift can also come from residents changing their minds, generational turnover, or turnout. These figures describe the places people moved between; they do not measure how any mover voted.
| Year | Net domestic migration |
|---|---|
| 2011 | −262 |
| 2012 | −299 |
| 2013 | −317 |
| 2014 | −540 |
| 2015 | −532 |
| 2016 | −453 |
| 2017 | −565 |
| 2018 | −166 |
| 2019 | −442 |
| 2021 | −289 |
| 2022 | −365 |
| 2023 | −149 |
| 2024 | −62 |
| 2025 | −111 |
McDowell's shift from a Democratic bedrock of Appalachian labor politics to an R+60 county tracks the broader collapse of the coal economy and the cultural realignment that followed across southern West Virginia.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 66.1 points in 1964 and a Republican high of 60.4 points in 2024. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved 1.9 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 60.4 points.
A population of 17,943, a 87% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $31,559 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Logan County and Lincoln County.
The counties whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Browse places by community — income, education, race & ethnicity, language — all community cuts →
Compare McDowell County with…
McDowell County, West Virginia. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/54047/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.