Why is Abbeville, SC Republican at presidential level, but Democratic local level?

[Suburbia]

Abbeville County, SC hasn't voted Democratic at the presidential level since Clinton 1996, but votes for Democratic gubernatorial candidates all the time except 1990, 2014 and 2018....

It last voted for Democrat Vince Sheheen in 2010. Why?

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

South Carolina politics ain’t national politics

A lot of counties that had long drifted to the right/left had politicians that didn’t match how it voted federally just cause people like their representatives, and it helps up and down the ballot locally. Downtown Columbia had a republican senator whose seat narrowly flipped after a corruption scandal. Greenwood, Dillon, Abbeville, Calhoun are all on the slide for democrats yep all have long and popular democratic representatives/senators.

Not to mention the affect of “I know this guy, he sounds and acts like me” which is underrated. Hard to cast James Smith, Vincent Shaheen when they were born, lived, and represented the same place their whole life.

[Meatball Ron]

2010 was 11 years ago - sounds not very Dem at the local level anymore. Can't find full data on partisanship of the county council but at least a handful of members are registered Republican.

Anyway, for the seventy thousandth time, partisan shifts tend to start at the presidential level then gradually trickle down-ballot to congressional, state, and local.

[Adam Griffin]

How much more Abbeville voted to the right of the state:

2006-G: -17.0
2008-P: 6.1
2010-G: -10.6
2012-P: 2.9
2014-G: 6.3
2016-P: 13.8
2018-G: 19.3
2020-P: 21.4

It's not Democratic anymore: it's a standard predominantly-white, rural, previously-loyal Dixiecratic county that was willing to elect homegrown Ds more so than national Ds, and that is following the same patterns as hundreds of other counties have throughout the South. Next.