Describe your county's political/demographic history

[HAnnA MArin County]

HISTORY
Bollinger County is located in the southeastern quadrant of the state of Missouri directly west of Cape Girardeau County, the commercial hub of Southeast Missouri. A largely rural county, it was named in honor of George Frederick Bollinger, a pioneer settler who persuaded 20 other families to leave North Carolina in the fall of 1799 and settle in a region immediately west of what is now Cape Girardeau. To acquire the land, Bollinger first had to sign off a document asserting that he and his fellow settlers were all Catholics; in reality, most of the group were members of the German Reformed Church and none were actually Catholic. However, Don Louis Lorimier, the Spanish Land Commandant of Cape Girardeau, was so impressed by Bollinger on an earlier visit that he decided to bend the rules for him and his fellow settlers who eventually settled into what is now Bollinger County. (Fredericktown, the county seat of adjacent Madison County, is also named after him.) These families of settlers had all immigrated from Germany in the early 18th century and later migrated down the Shenandoah Valley into North Carolina by the late 18th century.

The county also has a significant Native American history. While Native Americans constitute less than 1 percent of the county’s current population, the Osage Tribe was the major Native American influence at the time of European settlement into the county. By the 1830s, most of the Native Americans were displaced by white settlers. One of the Cherokee Trail of Tears routes passed through Sedgewickville in the northern section of the county while another route passed through Glennon in the central part of the county and Zalma in the southern portion of the county.

During the U.S. Civil War, both Union and Confederate troops moved through Bollinger County regularly. The sentiment of much of the county’s population was with the South, making its residents particularly vulnerable to attacks by Union soldiers. Dallas (now Marble Hill), the largest town in the county that also serves as the county seat, was the frequent destination of units from both sides. Passing armies and roving guerrilla bands ravished the countryside and slaughtered livestock for food, stripped fields of corn, and often burned farms.

DEMOGRAPHICS
According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) County Membership Report (2010), most residents (60.66%) in Bollinger County do not adhere to a religion; among those (39.34%) who do adhere to a religion, the main religious families are Baptists (44.74%), Catholics (25.19%), Methodists (14.76%), Nondenominational Protestants (7.59%), and Lutherans (4.21%). Most, if not all, of the county’s Catholic presence is concentrated in the unincorporated community of Leopold, named after The Pope. There are only two Catholic churches in Bollinger County: St. John’s Catholic Church in Leopold and St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Glennon. Protestant churches, many of which are Baptist and Methodist, are widespread throughout the rest of the county.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, racial demographics of the county were 97.92% White/Caucasian, 0.84% Biracial/Multiracial, 0.79% Hispanic/Latino, 0.62% Native American/Alaskan Native, 0.26% Black/African American, 0.21% Asian, 0.15% Other Races, and 0.00% Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian.

It is also a male-majority county, albeit barely with 50.04% being men and 49.96% women.  

POLITICAL CULTURE
Despite its Southern sympathies during the Civil War, the county has been staunchly Republican in terms of its political leanings. Jimmy Carter was the last Democrat to carry the county in a presidential election in 1976. The county is slightly less Republican at the state level, but not by much, as Mel Carnahan was the last Democrat to win the county in a gubernatorial election in 1996. No Democrat running in a statewide election has carried Bollinger County in the 21st century. At the local level, Democrats only hold two of the county’s 14 elected offices. In the Missouri General Assembly, the county is represented in the House of Representatives by Shelley Keeney (who is actually a distant cousin of mine, but I did not vote for her ) and in the Senate by Wayne Wallingford, both of whom are Republicans.

• In 2004, Bollinger County voters banned marriage equality with 88.78 percent of the vote — one of the highest margins in the state.

• In 2006, 67.72 percent of Bollinger County voted against legalizing embryonic stem cell research at the same time as 66.71 percent voted to increase the minimum wage.  

2012 Presidential Election
Bollinger: Mitt Romney 75.05% — Barack Obama 22.24% = R+ 52.81 (Swing R+ 13.36)
Missouri: Mitt Romney 53.64% — Barack Obama 44.28% = R+ 9.36 (Swing R+ 9.23)

2008 Presidential Election
Bollinger: John McCain 68.67% — Barack Obama 29.22% = R+ 39.45 (Swing D+ 0.38)   
Missouri: John McCain 49.36% — Barack Obama 49.23% = R+ 0.13 (Swing D+ 7.07)

2004 Presidential Election
Bollinger: George W. Bush 69.58% — John Kerry 29.75% = R+ 39.83 (Swing R+ 5.92)
Missouri: George W. Bush 53.30% — John Kerry 46.10% = R+ 7.20 (Swing R+ 3.86)

2000 Presidential Election
Bollinger: George W. Bush 65.87% — Al Gore 31.96% = R+ 33.91 (Swing R+ 26.46)
Missouri: George W. Bush 50.42% — Al Gore 47.08% = R+ 3.34 (Swing R+ 9.64)

1996 Presidential Election
Bollinger: Bob Dole 47.95% — Bill Clinton 40.50% — Ross Perot 10.03% = R+ 7.45 (Swing R+ 4.86)
Missouri: Bill Clinton 47.54% — Bob Dole 41.24% — Ross Perot 10.06% = D+ 6.30 (Swing R+ 3.85)

1992 Presidential Election
Bollinger: George H.W. Bush 42.68% — Bill Clinton 40.09% — Ross Perot 16.95% = R+ 2.59 
Missouri: Bill Clinton 44.07% — George H.W. Bush 33.92% — Ross Perot 21.69% = D+ 10.15