akashic
1876–2024
Ottawa County, Oklahoma
Ottawa County·Oklahoma

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

One of Oklahoma's most lopsided rural counties in recent cycles

18762024·38 elections
Ottawa County, Oklahoma · AbeEzekowitz · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
R+53
in 2024
Archetype
Populist
since the recent cycles
Population
30,341
2024 ACS
Most similar
Haskell County
TX · similarity 1.00
13 precincts · 11,178 votes cast
Trump · R+53
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024R
−53.5%
2,5118,49011,178
2020R
−51.2%
2,6868,54511,438
2016R
−47.2%
2,5847,63110,690
2012R
−29.6%
3,5096,4669,975
2008R
−23.6%
4,2686,90511,173
2004R
−18.8%
5,0867,44312,529
2000D
+0.2%
5,6475,62511,411
1996D
+14.9%
5,8444,12711,504
1992D
+16.4%
6,3044,14113,209
1988D
+13.9%
6,6585,02611,729
1984R
−14.0%
5,7817,66613,505
1980R
−1.7%
6,1436,36212,919
1976D
+19.7%
7,4464,98512,515
1972R
−38.6%
3,6578,34812,163
1968R
−1.6%
4,8205,00011,241
1964D
+30.0%
7,5894,09011,679
1960R
−6.7%
5,7056,52012,225
1956R
−8.1%
5,7216,73012,451
1952R
−3.7%
6,6927,21113,903
1948D
+25.5%
7,2434,30411,547
1944D
+7.5%
5,8765,05610,945
1940D
+15.6%
7,8735,73813,646
1936D
+23.9%
7,6584,69712,412
1932D
+43.6%
8,1753,21011,385
1928R
−28.7%
4,4888,14412,720
1924R
−6.5%
4,5225,19710,377
1920R
−13.5%
3,9745,2709,616
1916D
+6.2%
1,8751,6423,745
1912D
+2.4%
1,3841,3152,870
1908D
+4.8%
1,2971,1742,566
1904
No data
1900
No data
1896
No data
1892
No data
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
0.9%
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
30.2%
Other Christian
25.2%
Methodist
6.5%
Pentecostal & Holiness
5.3%
Mainline Protestant
2.5%
Catholic & Orthodox
1.2%
Non-Christian
0.1%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 29.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Ottawa County, in Oklahoma's northeastern corner near the Missouri and Arkansas borders, has shifted dramatically toward Republican margins over the past decade, posting a 53-point gap in 2024 despite a historically mixed past tied to tribal land and lead-mining communities.

The Democratic margin in Ottawa County peaked at forty-four points in 1932. By 2004 the county had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was fifty-three points, the most Republican-leaning result in the county's modern history.

The economic context is the key. Ottawa County's median household income of $49,947 sits well below state and national norms, and 21% 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 Haskell County and Okfuskee County.