George County, MS

[jaymichaud]

Just randomly found out about George County, MS.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_County,_Mississippi

In 1968 George Wallace won in George County, MS with over 90% of the vote, his second best result in the country. In 1988 they gave David Duke 4%, which was the highest percentage he received. In that election they also gave a lot of support to Lenora Fulani, a black woman who was friends with Pat Buchanan and was accused of making prejudiced comments. It was also one of the two counties who opposed changing the state flag from the old one featuring the confederate battle flag.

[If my soul was made of stone]

In that election they also gave a lot of support to Lenora Fulani, a black woman who was friends with Pat Buchanan and was accused of making prejudiced comments.

Fulani wasn't tight with Buchanan until they both became involved in the Reform Party in the 90s and she endorsed his 2000 presidential campaign from a standpoint of promoting electoral reform, although she later withdrew her endorsement on account of his reactionary beliefs and granted it instead to the Natural Law ticket. Her party at the time, New Alliance, was a pretty typical American leftist organization, albeit under the aegis of and considerably influenced by the controversial "Marxist-Freudian" therapist and activist Fred Newman, who was accused of cult-like leadership over the party, and affiliated with controversial Democratic figures such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

In 1988, New Alliance's strongest demographic seems to have been the Black left, as well as a handful of western #populist protest voters.

[Tintrlvr]

It was exceptionally strong for Perot in 1992 for a Southern county, and the same year it gave 14.5% of the vote to "other" (not Perot). Does anyone know if that was also Fulani? Atlas doesn't specify. I wonder if there is some odd institution there that could explain the unusually high independent votes.

Fulani was and is mostly a weirdo, neither right- or left-wing, although she used left-wing rhetoric. For it's worth, she was also a big supporter of Bloomberg when he was NYC mayor.

[I’m not Stu]

It's also illegal to possess alcohol in George County.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

How was it possible Fulani might have had such influence locally?

[Хahar 🤔]

It was exceptionally strong for Perot in 1992 for a Southern county, and the same year it gave 14.5% of the vote to "other" (not Perot). Does anyone know if that was also Fulani? Atlas doesn't specify. I wonder if there is some odd institution there that could explain the unusually high independent votes.

It's a scattering: more than half of the other vote went to Howard Phillips, the Taxpayers Party candidate, but Fulani got 2.5%, and John Hagelin, Andre Marrou, and Bo Gritz all got over 1%. George County was Fulani's best county and Marrou's eighth-best county (this despite Marrou finishing in seventh place in the county); it didn't place in Gritz's top ten because of his very strong performance in Mormon country. I imagine it was Phillips's best county, and probably it was high on the list for Hagelin, too.

It's unclear why the miscellaneous vote was so high in George County, but there has to be a story there.

[Sumner 1868]

It was exceptionally strong for Perot in 1992 for a Southern county, and the same year it gave 14.5% of the vote to "other" (not Perot). Does anyone know if that was also Fulani? Atlas doesn't specify.

Fulani's best counties in 1992 according to Atlas Election Statistics:

George, MS  2.48%
Hinds, MS    1.88%
Escambia, AL 1.72%
Rio Blanco, CO  1.30%
Calhoun, AL  1.15%
Crittenden, AR   1.05%
Rock Island, IL   1.05%
Covington, AL   1.01%
Monroe, AL   0.93%
Passaic, NJ   0.90%

[I’m not Stu]

It was exceptionally strong for Perot in 1992 for a Southern county, and the same year it gave 14.5% of the vote to "other" (not Perot). Does anyone know if that was also Fulani? Atlas doesn't specify. I wonder if there is some odd institution there that could explain the unusually high independent votes.

It's a scattering: more than half of the other vote went to Howard Phillips, the Taxpayers Party candidate, but Fulani got 2.5%, and John Hagelin, Andre Marrou, and Bo Gritz all got over 1%. George County was Fulani's best county and Marrou's eighth-best county (this despite Marrou finishing in seventh place in the county); it didn't place in Gritz's top ten because of his very strong performance in Mormon country. I imagine it was Phillips's best county, and probably it was high on the list for Hagelin, too.

It's unclear why the miscellaneous vote was so high in George County, but there has to be a story there.

Racist voters?

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

It was also one of three counties in Mississippi to vote for Hoover over Smith.

So basically remind to never go there

[I’m not Stu]

It was also one of three counties in Mississippi to vote for Hoover over Smith.

So basically remind to never go there

Is it because they hated Catholics?

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

It was also one of three counties in Mississippi to vote for Hoover over Smith.

So basically remind to never go there

Is it because they hated Catholics?

Probably? They voted for democrats in every election around it. And it’s not like Hoover had a massive appeal to three specific rural Mississippi counties

[User2836]

It was also one of three counties in Mississippi to vote for Hoover over Smith.

So basically remind to never go there

Is it because they hated Catholics?

Probably? They voted for democrats in every election around it. And it’s not like Hoover had a massive appeal to three specific rural Mississippi counties

That, and Prohibition.

[Tintrlvr]

It was exceptionally strong for Perot in 1992 for a Southern county, and the same year it gave 14.5% of the vote to "other" (not Perot). Does anyone know if that was also Fulani? Atlas doesn't specify. I wonder if there is some odd institution there that could explain the unusually high independent votes.

It's a scattering: more than half of the other vote went to Howard Phillips, the Taxpayers Party candidate, but Fulani got 2.5%, and John Hagelin, Andre Marrou, and Bo Gritz all got over 1%. George County was Fulani's best county and Marrou's eighth-best county (this despite Marrou finishing in seventh place in the county); it didn't place in Gritz's top ten because of his very strong performance in Mormon country. I imagine it was Phillips's best county, and probably it was high on the list for Hagelin, too.

It's unclear why the miscellaneous vote was so high in George County, but there has to be a story there.

Thanks!

Took a closer look into it and still having trouble finding anything especially unusual about the county (for being a mostly white, rural Deep South county). Lucedale looks very generic. The main institutions are a public hospital, a local prison, the county public schools, a Wal-Mart supercenter. The churches are pretty typical of the Deep South: Baptist, Assemblies of God, Church of Christ. There does appear to be a Mormon church in Lucedale, which is not common in the rural South, but it seems to be quite small and definitely trying to lay low (they don't have any signage at all if you look at it on Google Street View) so can't be a noticeable influence. No college or seminary or even a big factory or something that might make it a little bit unique.

[RI]

Knowing MS, it wouldn't surprise me if the county registrar simply messed up the numbers in a precinct or two and didn't correct the overall totals. It happens relatively often there.

[Хahar 🤔]

Knowing MS, it wouldn't surprise me if the county registrar simply messed up the numbers in a precinct or two and didn't correct the overall totals. It happens relatively often there.

This was my immediate reaction, but in both 1988 and 1992 "other" candidates (i.e. not Bush or Dukakis/Clinton or Perot) got over ten percent of the vote. It's hard for me to believe that Lenora Fulani getting over 2% in two successive elections was reporting error both times.

[VPH]

My guess is ballot design is weird in this county? It's hard to explain this otherwise.

[Sumner 1868]

My guess is ballot design is weird in this county? It's hard to explain this otherwise.

I would assume the high Fulani vote was black backlash to whatever racist currents caused the high vote share for David Duke. Does anyone know how prominent the KKK are in this area?

[VPH]

My guess is ballot design is weird in this county? It's hard to explain this otherwise.

I would assume the high Fulani vote was black backlash to whatever racist currents caused the high vote share for David Duke. Does anyone know how prominent the KKK are in this area?

Doesn't help much with the high Ron Paul % though

[I’m not Stu]

In 1960, unpledged electors won George County. The unpledged electors cast their electoral votes for Harry Flood Byrd.