GENERAL ELECTION VOTES CAST PER CANDIDATE
NOV. 5, 1974
7TH DISTRICT UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE
UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE
REP DEM
GRANVILLE CARL
D.
THOMAS PERKINS
KENTUCKY COUNTY VOTES RECEIVED VOTES RECEIVED
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BATH 404 1446
BOYD 2989 9669
BRACKEN 281 1030
BREATHITT 262 1881
CARTER 1171 2891
ELLIOTT 197 1404
FLEMING 591 1477
FLOYD 1052 7089
GREENUP 1973 5258
JOHNSON 924 2092
KNOTT 288 2587
LAWRENCE 901 1663
LETCHER 787 2313
LEWIS 1260 1470
MAGOFFIN 875 2085
MARTIN 656 958
MASON 747 2287
MENIFEE 165 592
MONTGOMERY 528 1704
MORGAN 366 1474
NICHOLAS 189 759
PERRY 1220 3889
PIKE 3544 10257
POWELL 498 1363
ROBERTSON 94 307
ROWAN 892 2760
WOLFE 222 823
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TOTAL VOTES 00023076 00071528
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How times have changed! In 2016, the Democrats in the Congressional District that includes many or most of the above Kentucky counties did not even have a Democrat on the ballot in the United States House of Representatives General Election Ballot. In the 2014 and 2012 General Elections Elliott County remained loyal to the Democratic Party and voted for the Democratic Candidate for the United States House of Representatives, but the following United States Fifth District of Kentucky Counties that voted for the Democratic Candidate in the 1974 General Election had switched sides and voted for the Republican candidate for United States Congress in the 2012 and 2014 General Elections:
BOYD
BREATHITT CARTER
FLOYD
JOHNSON KNOTT, LAWRENCE
LETCHER
MAGOFFIN
MARTIN
MORGAN
PERRY PIKE, AND ROWAN COUNTIES. These are fourteen counties now in the Kentucky Fifth District of the United States Congress. Why have these Counties bolted from the Democratic Party?
It used to be that the Democratic Party was the Party of the working people--the people that scrabbled out a living with their hands and the sweat of their brow. Is it the fault of the Democratic Party? Has the Democratic Party become the party of the wealthy, and the people that are unwilling to work for a living? The Democratic Party used to be solidly supported by the people of the South from the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Eastern shores of North Carolina and Virginia westward to El Paso, Texas. I'm a Democrat. Are you?
Perhaps the Democratic Party is like an old mule, that has outlived its usefulness. Perhaps not. I hope I have not outlived my usefulness. The Democratic Party was the Party of the New Deal, and stood for Progress when Social Security was created, when SSI was created, when Medicare and Medicaid were created, when food stamps began to be distributed, and when great State Colleges and Universities were created throughout the South and in Kentucky, Western Kentucky, and Eastern Kentucky. Now many outside the Democratic Party have concluded that these social welfare policies need to be reduced, curbed, and perhaps done away with.
A philosopher from the 'sixties commented, "Suppose they gave a war and nobody came?" Suppose, indeed. I feel saddened to learn of the deaths of four American soldiers killed by apparent ISIS agents while those soldiers were patrolling in Niger. Why did we have troops in Niger? Why did Congress authorize U.S. troops in Niger? The Constitution says Congress shall declare war. It does not give the President the authority to declare war. Congress should guard its Constitutional authority, and not abdicate it to the President.
I'll try to enlarge on this blog about the weakening of the Democratic Party throughout the South, since the Solid South was a bastion of the Democratic Party during the New Deal and throughout the nineteen thirties. Kenneth Stepp.