Ellis County, KS

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Why was this place so Democratic in the 19th/early 20th century? And why did that disintegrate so badly? McCain won it 2:1, Obama did worse than McGovern. Actually it swung TOWARD McCain, yet voted Democratic as recently as 1992.

[Workers' Friend]

Can you say the party switching during the 50's and 60's?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Can you say the party switching during the 50's and 60's?

Congratulations on a complete simplification of a very nuanced and complex situation, obvious lack of understanding of what happened in various regions, and an even more obvious misreading of my post.

(Not as dumb as Ronnie's "typical white southerners" comment though, I'll give you that.)

[minionofmidas]

Hays is an old frontier town. Not sure that explains anything, but maybe it does.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

There may be an ethnic or religious explanation.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Mostly German.

Did vote 2:1 for Al Smith though when he got clobbered in the surrounding areas.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Mostly German.

Did vote 2:1 for Al Smith though when he got clobbered in the surrounding areas.

A Catholic area, maybe [qm].

[Rob]

German Catholic enclave.

[minionofmidas]

I thought I would resurrect this old thread to give a complete answer to your question, A Tree For Trials.

Ellis County, Kansas was settled mostly by Germans from Russia, Volga Germans as they are called. These were German-speaking people who had settled in the Volga River region of Russia in the 1700s, seeking political, economic, and religious freedom. They started migrating to Ellis County, Kansas in the 1870s, homesteading land along the Union Pacific railroad. This particular group of Volga Germans were Catholic.

Which is quite unusual - they were mostly either Lutheran or weird protestant sects.

Thanks, very interesting!

[Alcon]

White Cloud -- Great post.  Welcome to the forum.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Mostly German.

Did vote 2:1 for Al Smith though when he got clobbered in the surrounding areas.

German Catholic, maybe?  They were always Democrat, but I think German Protestants votes Republican. 

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Mostly German.

Did vote 2:1 for Al Smith though when he got clobbered in the surrounding areas.

German Catholic, maybe?  They were always Democrat, but I think German Protestants votes Republican. 

German Protestants have always been GOP; in fact, they were among the original Republican base. German Catholics flipped during/after World War I, and unlike Irish/Italian/Polish/Czech Catholics never voted in droves for FDR.

[soniquemd21921]

It was a German Catholic county, that's why.

For a county in Kansas that has completely flipped: Douglas (Lawrence). In 1932 it was Hoover's best county in the entire state (58%), and in 1936 Landon got 62% of the vote here. In fact, Douglas never voted for a Democrat until 1964. Now it's the second-most Democratic county in the state. The growth of the University of Kansas has to be why this happened.

[minionofmidas]

Two Democrats from Hays (the Ellis County seat) lost their House and Senate races in the election, so now there is not a single Democratic member of the Kansas House or Senate who lives west of Hutchinson

So it was the last place there to be able to elect Democrats. Traces of the old tradition still subsist, then.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Interesting stuff about this part of the country.

Question, what do they do out there in terms of jobs?  All farmers?  Hays is barely over 28,000 people and it's the largest city in NW Kansas.  Now THAT is what you call desolate. 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

All farmers?

Not since the 19th century...

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

All farmers?

Not since the 19th century...

Ok, so what is the main industry out there then?  Simply flying over Kansas shows miles upon miles of farmland, so my assumption wasn't all that unfounded.  Hays is apparently a college town with a bit of a hand in the healthcare industry, so I guess that would be it. 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ok, so what is the main industry out there then?

I've no idea.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Yes it was. Nowhere is 'just farmers' these days. Actually nowhere ever was, really.

[Franzl]

I just want to remark that Hays has an excellent brewery and it was a very welcome sight after hundreds of miles through the Plains...

[minionofmidas]

Two Democrats from Hays (the Ellis County seat) lost their House and Senate races in the election, so now there is not a single Democratic member of the Kansas House or Senate who lives west of Hutchinson

So it was the last place there to be able to elect Democrats. Traces of the old tradition still subsist, then.

It was the last place there to be able to elect Democrats on the state House/Senate level. But given the surge in Republican voter registrations/collapse in Democratic registrations and the results of the last two presidential elections, I don't think that the old tradition exists anymore. I would expect that Ellis County will continue to be slightly more Democratic-leaning than the surrounding counties in northwest Kansas, simply because it's a more urban county and has a major university, but I don't know if it will ever again be a Democratic county.

Yeah, I wasn't claiming that. I'm a bit surprised they held on at the state level this long, is all - probably couldn't have happened without cultural memories of there being Democrats one can support.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Quite true.

[Badger]

White Cloud, you REALLY need to post more.