Southampton County, Virginia is located on the southeastern border of the state. It has a total area of 590 square miles and a population of 18,143 people according to the 2019 Census estimates. Politically, Southampton County is a conservative county, voting for Republicans in most presidential elections over the last several decades. The local government consists of an elected board composed of five members from various districts in the county who are responsible for setting policy and making budget decisions. Each district also elects one local representative to serve on the board. The current Board members include Chairperson James Jenkins, Vice Chairperson Ann Widdows, Commissioners Jennie Boon, Delbert Potter Jr., and Ervin Williams. Additionally, there is a Sheriff's Office headed by Sheriff Mark Sisson and a Court Clerk's Office headed by Ashley Johnson both responsible for upholding law and order within their respective jurisdictions. Local political candidates run for office during every election cycle on topics ranging from economic development to public safety.
The political climate in Southampton County, VA is moderately conservative.
In Southampton County, VA 40.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 58.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 0.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Southampton county remained very strongly Republican, 58.6% to 40.6%.
Southampton county voted Republican in the last five Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Southampton County, VA is moderately conservative.
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Virginia is somewhat liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Southampton, Virginia: d r r r R R
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Southampton County, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 103 contributions totaling $8,340 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $81 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 30 contributions totaling $3,416 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $114 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)