Historically Republican Counties (With MianFei)

[Alben Barkley]

This applies to most of South Central Kentucky, which was strongly Unionist during the Civil War (thanks largely to the Confederate invasion of the area) and has remained staunchly Republican ever since. Pulaski County for instance, the largest county in the region, has only voted Democratic once since then: 1912, when obviously the split between Roosevelt and Taft was fatal to the GOP.

In any event, that's why if you look at maps of Kentucky elections over the years, even during elections when Democrats comfortably won the state there is a group of red counties in the south central part of it.