Whitley County, KY is a county in the southeastern corner of Kentucky, with a population of approximately 34,837 people as of 2019. While the area has long been known for its small-town charm, it is also host to a lively political landscape, with many local candidates vying for office each year. In recent years, Whitley County voters have had the opportunity to choose from numerous candidates running for State Representative, State Senate and county offices such as Sheriff and Judge/Executive. Many of these candidates are passionate about working to improve the quality of life in Whitley County by advocating for better education funding and job opportunities, strengthening public safety measures and creating programs that promote economic development. Residents have an important voice in Whitley County politics and can make their voices heard by voting in local elections or participating in campaigns.
The political climate in Whitley County, KY is very conservative.
In Whitley County, KY 16.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 81.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Whitley county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 81.8% to 16.6%.
Whitley county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Whitley County, KY is very conservative.
London Metro Area is very conservative.
Kentucky is strongly conservative.
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.
Whitley, Kentucky: R 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 Whitley County, KY
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 221 contributions totaling $14,491 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $66 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 294 contributions totaling $432,144 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,470 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)