akashic
1876–2024
Jeff Davis County, Texas
Jeff Davis County·Texas

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

High-desert ranching county where vast distances shape civic life

18762024·38 elections
Jeff Davis County, Texas · Aualliso · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
R+21
in 2024
Archetype
Populist
since the recent cycles
Population
1,865
2024 ACS
Most similar
Douglas County
WA · similarity 0.98
5 precincts · 1,169 votes cast
Trump · R+21
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024R
−21.3%
4506991,169
2020R
−21.7%
5017841,305
2016R
−22.9%
4226951,191
2012R
−23.4%
4407191,192
2008R
−22.7%
4687491,236
2004R
−33.1%
3787641,167
2000R
−40.1%
2837081,060
1996R
−11.6%
370482963
1992R
−4.5%
321360876
1988R
−22.9%
325524870
1984R
−26.0%
299511815
1980R
−15.0%
300409729
1976D
+3.5%
309288607
1972R
−30.3%
202382595
1968D
+9.7%
239191496
1964D
+27.1%
304174479
1960D
+3.4%
195182381
1956R
−18.2%
165239407
1952R
−25.2%
183306489
1948D
+58.2%
30975402
1944D
+67.1%
33151417
1940D
+76.4%
37450424
1936D
+79.4%
29133325
1932D
+68.2%
25246302
1928R
−16.7%
112157270
1924D
+37.0%
11749184
1920D
+37.9%
9141132
1916D
+51.4%
23474311
1912D
+32.7%
12962205
1908
No data
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%
Polish
1.0%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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
Catholic & Orthodox
15.0%
Baptist
11.1%
Other Christian
5.3%
Mainline Protestant
4.5%
Non-Christian
0.1%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 64.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Jeff Davis County stretches across the Davis Mountains with fewer than 2,500 residents spread over nearly 2,300 square miles, making it one of Texas's least-dense counties. Its small electorate swung Republican by 21 points in 2024.

The Democratic margin in Jeff Davis County peaked at seventy-nine points in 1936. By 1980 the county had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was twenty-one points, the most Republican-leaning result in the county's modern history.

The economic context is the key. Jeff Davis County's median household income of $59,286 sits well below state and national norms, and 24% 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 Douglas County and Chugach Census Area.