akashic
1876–2024
Ben Hill County, Georgia
Ben Hill County·Georgia

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

A small south Georgia county where presidential margins have widened each cycle

18762024·38 elections
Ben Hill County, Georgia · Michael Rivera · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
R+32
in 2024
Archetype
Populist
since the recent cycles
Population
17,089
2024 ACS
Most similar
Taylor County
GA · similarity 0.99
1 precincts · 6,501 votes cast
Trump · R+32
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024R
−32.0%
2,1994,2816,501
2020R
−26.2%
2,3924,1106,560
2016R
−27.6%
2,1013,7395,936
2012R
−14.8%
2,5123,3965,970
2008R
−13.7%
2,5903,4176,036
2004R
−20.8%
2,1803,3315,545
2000R
−3.2%
2,2342,3814,661
1996D
+16.7%
2,1981,5164,088
1992D
+19.5%
2,3481,4764,464
1988R
−3.5%
1,8672,0053,918
1984R
−10.9%
1,8592,3134,172
1980D
+26.7%
2,5441,4594,067
1976D
+50.1%
2,4498143,263
1972R
−49.9%
7032,1042,807
1968D
+6.4%
8766613,371
1964R
−15.7%
1,5232,0893,613
1960D
+54.2%
1,8815582,439
1956D
+59.0%
2,1505542,704
1952D
+49.2%
2,0486972,745
1948D
+64.1%
1,4382231,896
1944D
+69.2%
1,0461901,237
1940D
+73.6%
1,2061811,392
1936D
+77.4%
1,1471461,294
1932D
+84.3%
1,026851,116
1928D
+37.2%
1,0064601,466
1924D
+42.1%
507150847
1920D
+40.1%
543232775
1916D
+80.5%
6278769
1912D
+60.2%
53534832
1908R
−0.5%
407412972
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
30.4%
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
40.5%
Other Christian
8.2%
Pentecostal & Holiness
7.3%
Methodist
6.2%
Catholic & Orthodox
0.6%
Mainline Protestant
0.1%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 37.1% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Ben Hill's roughly 17,000 residents are split between the city of Fitzgerald and rural farmland, a mix that once produced competitive results but has shifted toward lopsided Republican margins in recent presidential contests.

The Democratic margin in Ben Hill County peaked at eighty-four points in 1932. By 2000 the county had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was thirty-two points, the most Republican-leaning result in the county's modern history.

The economic context is the key. Ben Hill County's median household income of $41,758 sits well below state and national norms, and 25% 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 Taylor County and Turner County.