Thursday, October 12, 2017

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

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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.