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

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

One of Virginia's widest presidential margins in 2024

18762024·38 elections
Tazewell County, Virginia · Erechtheus · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
R+69
in 2024
Archetype
Populist
since the recent cycles
Population
39,624
2024 ACS
Most similar
Mercer County
WV · similarity 1.00
20 precincts · 19,906 votes cast
Trump · R+69
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024R
−68.7%
3,03016,71119,906
2020R
−67.2%
3,20516,73120,134
2016R
−66.1%
2,89515,16818,566
2012R
−57.4%
3,66113,84317,732
2008R
−32.9%
5,59611,20117,061
2004R
−16.3%
7,18410,03917,480
2000R
−8.7%
7,2278,65516,344
1996D
+8.9%
7,5006,13115,440
1992D
+13.0%
8,5866,37517,056
1988D
+6.0%
8,0987,16515,453
1984R
−9.1%
8,0149,64517,896
1980R
−0.1%
7,0037,02114,425
1976D
+14.9%
7,5655,56513,439
1972R
−3.7%
9881,0672,117
1968D
+2.6%
4,7344,43411,338
1964D
+5.9%
1,1311,0042,140
1960D
+16.9%
4,4163,1397,574
1956R
−6.2%
3,4953,9607,535
1952R
−12.2%
2,5273,2325,789
1948R
−0.4%
2,2582,2784,706
1944D
+10.9%
2,8322,2715,128
1940D
+13.7%
3,1082,3565,472
1936D
+20.2%
2,9921,9814,995
1932D
+14.9%
2,7132,0054,762
1928R
−21.6%
1,9793,0725,051
1924R
−1.2%
2,5682,6315,477
1920R
−15.2%
1,7702,4084,187
1916R
−17.8%
1,1081,5912,720
1912D
+16.0%
9795862,462
1908R
−26.5%
8091,3982,224
1904R
−29.0%
8031,4622,273
1900R
−33.9%
1,3122,6633,984
1896R
−22.9%
1,5822,5254,124
1892R
−6.1%
1,5731,7843,453
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
2.6%
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
Other Christian
10.2%
Methodist
9.6%
Baptist
5.1%
Pentecostal & Holiness
4.6%
Mainline Protestant
1.8%
Catholic & Orthodox
0.1%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 68.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Tazewell County, anchored by the coalfield economy of Southwest Virginia, recorded an R+68.9 presidential margin in 2024—among the most lopsided results in the state and a signal of how sharply rural Appalachian voters have realigned over the past two decades.

The Democratic margin in Tazewell County peaked at twenty points in 1936. By 2000 the county had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was sixty-nine points, the most Republican-leaning result in the county's modern history.

The economic context is the key. Tazewell County's median household income of $47,313 sits well below state and national norms, and 19% 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 Mercer County and Wise County.