akashic
1876–2024
Telfair County, Georgia
Telfair County·Georgia

For one hundred eight years, Telfair County voted Democratic. Then it stopped.

Deep-south Georgia county where timber and agriculture still shape the economy

18762024·38 elections
Telfair County, Georgia · JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
R+39
in 2024
Archetype
Realigner
since the recent cycles
Population
11,831
2024 ACS
Most similar
Taylor County
GA · similarity 0.99
6 precincts · 4,214 votes cast
Trump · R+39
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024R
−39.3%
1,2742,9304,214
2020R
−30.9%
1,4872,8254,333
2016R
−30.0%
1,3132,4503,796
2012R
−15.6%
1,8052,4804,338
2008R
−14.3%
1,8622,4864,374
2004R
−15.4%
1,5902,1713,776
2000D
+2.4%
1,7771,6933,493
1996D
+21.4%
1,8561,1433,332
1992D
+21.8%
2,2381,3244,192
1988R
−1.1%
1,7651,8053,595
1984D
+1.7%
2,0491,9804,029
1980D
+38.7%
2,7001,1733,941
1976D
+69.5%
3,5346374,171
1972R
−53.1%
6872,2452,932
1968D
+7.5%
1,0387204,260
1964R
−1.1%
1,8721,9143,786
1960D
+57.4%
2,9227913,713
1956D
+75.9%
2,0752842,359
1952D
+83.5%
2,6952432,938
1948D
+56.5%
712751,127
1944D
+74.4%
1,1871741,361
1940D
+85.3%
1,3911041,508
1936D
+81.1%
1,1581211,279
1932D
+88.0%
74645797
1928D
+72.2%
2,0573322,389
1924D
+63.6%
1,3822641,757
1920D
+93.3%
1,069371,106
1916D
+90.4%
77325827
1912D
+92.0%
69520734
1908D
+67.2%
61329869
1904D
+87.3%
78144844
1900D
+63.4%
568122704
1896D
+23.4%
580350985
1892D
+56.7%
703190904
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
0.7%
African American
29.6%
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
15.7%
Methodist
11.4%
Other Christian
6.2%
Pentecostal & Holiness
2.9%
Catholic & Orthodox
1.4%
Mainline Protestant
0.3%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 62.1% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Telfair's rural, majority-Black population coexists with some of the widest Republican presidential margins in Georgia, a pattern common across the state's economically distressed wiregrass and coastal plain counties.

The unraveling was not abrupt. The Democratic margin in Telfair County peaked at ninety-three points in 1920; it narrowed steadily over the late twentieth century. The 2004 election delivered the county to the Republican party for the first time in many years, by a margin of fifteen points. By 2024, the margin had settled into deep Republican territory.

The economic and demographic context is severe. Telfair County's median household income of $50,929 is among the lowest of any county in the United States; 24% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Taylor County and Ben Hill County.