Counties that only vote Democratic because of a college?

[Tekken_Guy]

What counties are Democratic-leaning counties solely because of a college or university and would otherwise vote Republican?

[THG]

Watauga County, NC. It has generally been a swing county in the past, but it trending D quickly- in no doubt due to this factor.

New Hanover County in NC would be far redder, if not for UNC Wilmington.

Albemarle County in Virginia has swung left by an unbelievable amount since Bush barely carried it 2004, in no doubt mostly due to the University of Virginia and the city of Charlottesville spilling over to the actual county, proper.

[seeking mystical annihilation]

Latah, ID
Jackson, IL
Oktibbeha, MS
Albany, WY

[VAR]

Montgomery, VA seems pretty obvious.

[#LANK]

Tippecanoe, IN home of Purdue. First went blue in 08 because of Obama's historic margins with the youth vote and flipped again last fall due to educational trends.

[THG]

Montgomery, VA seems pretty obvious.

I can’t believe I named Albemarle but forgot Montgomery.

[THG]

Also, isn’t Marquette County in Michigan another one?

[Bismarck]

Tippecanoe, IN home of Purdue. First went blue in 08 because of Obama's historic margins with the youth vote and flipped again last fall due to educational trends.

Yep. Purdue is interesting in that it has a very moderate political culture compared to similar big ten universities. The surrounding area is pretty conservative.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Latah, ID
Jackson, IL
Oktibbeha, MS
Albany, WY

I'm not 100% convinced on Oktibbeha.  The margins tend to be narrow, and there is a sizeable African-American population.  Maybe the white population being ~75% Republican instead of ~90% is the last bit it needs for the Democrats to cross the finish line, but there are other things at play there too.

When Riley, KS went Democratic in 2020 (although it wouldn't totally stun me if it flipped back in 2024), that was an obvious candidate too.

[Thunder98]

Portage County, WI

[The Night Owlditor]

Boone County, MO (Mizzou)
Monroe County, IN (Indiana University-Bloomington)
Crawford County, KS? (Pittsburg State University)
Clay County, MN? (Minnesota State University-Moorhead)

[For Trump, everything. For immigrants, the law]

Athens, OH?

[GregTheGreat657]

Centre, PA (Penn State)
Tompkins, NY (Cornell)
Clarke, GA (University of Georgia)
Trump probably would have won Lorain, OH in 2016 if not for Oberlin College
Gallatin, MT (Montana State)

[MarkD]

Athens, OH?

FTFY

Athens County, Ohio, is pretty heavily Democratic and the primary reason for that is the presence of Ohio University, which is the county's primary employer. Athens County can easily be described as the most liberal county in the state of Ohio, as evidenced by the fact that Athens County was the only county in the whole state that voted against State Issue 1 in November 2004. State Issue 1 banned same-sex marriage with an amendment to the Ohio state constitution. It was passed by the voters of Ohio in Nov. 2004; it passed by 61.71% to 38.29%, by a margin of over 1.2 million votes. Even Cuyahoga and Franklin voted predominantly in favor of State Issue 1, even though Cuyahoga County voted a little over 2-1 for John Kerry in that year's presidential election, and Franklin County voted for Kerry by a margin of 9 points. But, like I said, Athens County was the only county that voted against State Issue 1.

[Roll Roons]

Champaign and McLean, IL, although the latter is still fairly swingy.

Without U of I and ISU, respectively, they'd vote just like the neighboring counties. Which is to say heavily Republican.

[TML]

Douglas, KS
Alachua, FL
Clarke, GA

[หมูเด้ง]

Albany, WY. It's a Bush-Bush-Obama-Romney-Trump-Biden county.

[5280]

Larimer, CO
Coconino, AZ
Albany, WY

[Proud Family Values]

Centre County, Pennsylvania.  Penn State.  Even with Penn State, it can be very close.