akashic
1876–2024
Northumberland County, Virginia
Northumberland County·Virginia

Northumberland County voted Democratic for a century. The shift began with civil rights.

A Northern Neck county where rural Chesapeake geography shapes a lopsided margin

18762024·38 elections
Northumberland County, Virginia · Taber Andrew Bain · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
R+21
in 2024
Archetype
Old Confederacy
since the recent cycles
Population
12,188
2024 ACS
Most similar
Culpeper County
VA · similarity 1.00
5 precincts · 8,232 votes cast
Trump · R+21
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024R
−21.1%
3,2024,9388,232
2020R
−15.8%
3,2524,4857,815
2016R
−19.6%
2,8524,3027,397
2012R
−14.8%
3,1914,3107,558
2008R
−9.8%
3,3124,0417,406
2004R
−20.0%
2,5483,8326,409
2000R
−22.2%
2,1183,3625,605
1996R
−12.9%
1,9572,6055,028
1992R
−15.1%
1,8622,6675,334
1988R
−32.3%
1,5062,9844,581
1984R
−38.0%
1,4073,1664,628
1980R
−24.2%
1,5512,5984,330
1976R
−8.6%
1,8142,1674,126
1972R
−36.3%
6331,3702,029
1968R
−10.3%
1,0771,4383,492
1964D
+0.5%
6846771,365
1960R
−21.8%
8581,3402,211
1956R
−40.2%
4281,1911,900
1952R
−36.4%
5731,2301,806
1948R
−9.2%
4295351,146
1944D
+13.9%
6955251,221
1940D
+29.6%
7123861,102
1936D
+40.8%
618260878
1932D
+43.6%
630245884
1928R
−44.5%
2867441,030
1924D
+63.0%
589130729
1920D
+41.3%
536221763
1916D
+63.5%
503111617
1912D
+59.0%
470102624
1908D
+37.7%
410185597
1904D
+40.4%
532225760
1900D
+0.1%
8098071,623
1896D
+2.6%
9539041,873
1892D
+8.8%
9537921,823
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
1.7%
African American
15.3%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
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
Methodist
13.8%
Baptist
11.3%
Other Christian
7.8%
Mainline Protestant
3.9%
Pentecostal & Holiness
0.8%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 62.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Northumberland sits at the tip of Virginia's Northern Neck peninsula, isolated by the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. Its small, older, majority-white population has shifted steadily rightward over two decades, producing a 21-point Republican margin in 2024.

The shift began with civil rights. 1968 marked the realignment in Northumberland County, by a ten points margin. The Republican margin reached its widest at forty-four points in 1928. The 2024 margin was twenty-one points.

The political shift has tracked, in Northumberland County, the political shift of the South more broadly. A 69% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $66,480, and a 12% poverty rate describe the demographic context. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Culpeper County and Fairfield County.