akashic
1876–2024
Covington County, Mississippi
Covington County·Mississippi

Covington County was solidly one party for decades. In the last twenty years, it flipped.

A rural piney-woods county where Republican margins have held above 30 points for a decade

18762024·38 elections
Covington County, Mississippi · Credit: Courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
R+33
in 2024
Archetype
Populist
since the recent cycles
Population
18,148
2024 ACS
Most similar
Wayne County
MS · similarity 1.00
15 precincts · 8,861 votes cast
Trump · R+33
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024R
−33.3%
2,9215,8698,861
2020R
−26.0%
3,4165,8549,360
2016R
−24.5%
3,2765,4358,811
2012R
−16.3%
3,8785,4059,348
2008R
−17.7%
3,8525,5239,461
2004R
−22.9%
3,1585,0448,252
2000R
−22.6%
2,6234,1806,881
1996R
−9.4%
2,6283,2196,305
1992R
−10.7%
2,7753,5256,996
1988R
−21.3%
2,5914,0056,633
1984R
−30.3%
2,2194,1656,413
1980R
−7.9%
2,9563,4716,531
1976D
+4.9%
2,8622,5915,568
1972R
−70.0%
6423,8424,569
1968D
+5.1%
6914454,804
1964R
−77.1%
3923,0333,425
1960D
+21.4%
8423712,198
1956D
+48.6%
1,3823862,051
1952D
+33.2%
1,5357702,305
1948D
+7.1%
135161,687
1944D
+93.3%
1,672581,730
1940D
+92.9%
1,419521,471
1936D
+93.5%
1,589521,644
1932D
+96.4%
1,352221,380
1928D
+71.4%
1,1311891,320
1924D
+80.4%
82248963
1920D
+41.9%
649257935
1916D
+79.7%
83663970
1912D
+82.2%
5708684
1908
No data
1904
No data
1900D
+35.7%
442208655
1896D
+81.8%
73172806
1892D
+79.0%
2389290
1888
No data
1884
No data
1880
No data
1876
No data
Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
100.0%
African American
27.8%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
0.0%
speak English only
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Baptist
43.0%
Other Christian
9.1%
Methodist
6.2%
Mainline Protestant
1.4%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 40.3% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Covington County sits in Mississippi's timber belt, where a predominantly rural, majority-white electorate has delivered consistent double-digit Republican presidential margins since at least 2008, reaching R+33 in 2024.

The Democratic margin in Covington County peaked at ninety-six points in 1932. By 1980 the county had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was thirty-three points, the most Republican-leaning result in the county's modern history.

The economic context is the key. Covington County's median household income of $45,051 sits well below state and national norms, and 20% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Wayne County and Newberry County.