Saline County, NE

[HAnnA MArin County]

What's up with this county? It seems to be one of the most reliably Democratic counties in red state Nebraska.

1988: Was one of only three counties to be won by Michael Dukakis (the other two being Thurston and Dakota counties).
1992: Was the only county in the state to be won by Bill Clinton.
1996: Same as 1988.
2000: Bush narrowly won the county and it was his second-worst county in the state.
2004: Same as 2000.
2008: Was one of only four counties to be won by Obama (the other three being Thurston, Douglas-Omaha, and Lancaster-Lincoln).

It is the square county southwest-adjacent to Lancaster County. Seems to be a mostly rural (as of 2000, its population was 13,843) and predominantly (92.99%) White county, so I figured the Republicans would always win it.

I did find one website that said that the county has a rich Czech history, and that Czechs vote Democratic. Not sure if this explains it or what, but would be interested to get everyone's take on it.

[RI]

I did find one website that said that the county has a rich Czech history, and that Czechs vote Democratic. Not sure if this explains it or what, but would be interested to get everyone's take on it.

That is a significant part of it. Some of those Czechs are my relatives.

[Husker]

Saline County is a rural county but has always had a much higher percentage of manufacturing, unionized jobs than most NE counties. In other words, Saline County has a workforce demographic more likely to vote democratic. Crete (in Saline County) is also the home of Doane College, a private UCC school that probably has helped give it a democratic tilt. Saline County is usually far more democratic than the rest of rural NE but it generally follows statewide trends in elections.