Unusual state election results and vote patterns

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

I know this is old, but I think I found the epitome of this description, at least by modern standards. The 1926 Pennsylvania US senate election. All of the rural areas go democratic while Philadelphia and Pittsburgh go Republican. It may have been common at the time, but looking back it definitely isn't.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_United_States_Senate_election_in_Pennsylvania

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

Everything about Edwards v. Duke was just bizarre.

Not really actually. It followed the typical established patterns at the time of Northern Louisiana going heavily republican and southern Louisiana going heavily democratic. The only real notable difference was the suburbs like Lafayette and St. Tammany, which while typically republican were turned off by Duke.

A better comparison would be the 2003 election.

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

The Arkansas 1966 gubernatorial election is interesting, with Winthrop Rockefeller sweeping the majority black counties and indeed many of the whiter (though still with a substantial black majority) counties in southern Arkansas such as Clark which were voting Dem at all levels well into the 2000s. In some ways it is not surprising that a (literal) Rockefeller Republican would win black support against a segregationist Democrat, but on the other hand Southern blacks have largely been voting Democratic since their enfranchisement, not to mention how rare a breed liberal Republicans were in the South.

This is also the same situation as the Maryland governor election that same year. Spiro Agnew was the republican against George P Mahoney, a segregation democrat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_Maryland_gubernatorial_election

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

Also, these were pretty much unthinkable today and probably weren't common back then either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_Georgia_gubernatorial_election

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Georgia_gubernatorial_election

Fulton county going republican while all the rural areas go democratic

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

Also there is the 1972 Georgia senate election. I have no idea how Fletcher Thompson won Hancock County.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_United_States_Senate_election_in_Georgia

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

Similar to Hancock Georgia is basically any election in Virginia where Charles City county votes republican.

Here are a few I have found.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_United_States_Senate_special_election_in_Virginia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Virginia_gubernatorial_election

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_Virginia_gubernatorial_election

There were a few other times with Harry Byrd Sr. where Charles City went for an independent.

The big question here is what was the black voter registration like at this time before the VRA? And why did it vote for segregationist Mills Godwin over Linwood Holton in 1965?

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

Here's another weird one. 1966 Mississippi.

Claiborne and Jefferson go republican while the rest of the state goes democratic. What is strange here is that they went for Prentiss Walker over Clifton Whitley. There was a bit of this in 1972 as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_United_States_Senate_election_in_Mississippi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_United_States_Senate_election_in_Mississippi

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

The Arkansas 1966 gubernatorial election is interesting, with Winthrop Rockefeller sweeping the majority black counties and indeed many of the whiter (though still with a substantial black majority) counties in southern Arkansas such as Clark which were voting Dem at all levels well into the 2000s. In some ways it is not surprising that a (literal) Rockefeller Republican would win black support against a segregationist Democrat, but on the other hand Southern blacks have largely been voting Democratic since their enfranchisement, not to mention how rare a breed liberal Republicans were in the South.

What I find odd about Arkansas during this time is that the black eastern part of the state still stuck with Rockefeller in 1968 and 1970 when his opponents were not segregationists. (And in the case of 1970, when he lost in a landslide.) I guess rural blacks simply didn't want to throw away Rockefeller republicans for standard new south democrats.

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

This Wisconsin one seems sort of odd.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Wisconsin_gubernatorial_election

A republican winning Dane but the democrat gets the central area.

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

I really have no idea how to explain this Oregon senate map.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_United_States_Senate_election_in_Oregon

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

Or this map. The Philly/Pittsburgh divide is extremely strong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_United_States_Senate_election_in_Pennsylvania

Bonus: Sweep with an outlier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_United_States_Senate_election_in_Pennsylvania

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

This Minnesota one is sort of weird

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Minnesota_gubernatorial_election

[ChrisMcDanielWasRobbed]

This Alabama one takes the cake.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962_United_States_Senate_election_in_Alabama

Pretty much the only time i've ever seen the black belt going republican.