Scott County’s presidential politics
Scott County is a predominately Republican county, and has voted for the Republican candidate for president each election cycle since secession in 1860, with the exception of 1912, after Theodore Roosevelt switched to the Progressive Party.
Only once in its history did Scott County vote for the Democrat candidate. That was in the 1856 election, when Scott Countians narrowly supported James Buchanan against Republican John C. Fremont and Whig Millard Fillmore. Buchanan won Tennessee and the reset of the South in that election.
Other elections in which Scott County has not supported the Republican candidate include 1852 and 1860.
In 1852, Scott Countians joined Morgan, Campbell and Anderson counties in supporting Whig candidate Winfield Scott, the War of 1812 hero for whom Scott County was named. Scott didn’t win much in that election, losing the election to Democrat Franklin Pierce, but he won both Tennessee and Kentucky.
In 1860, Scott Countians joined the rest of the state in voting for Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. Republican Abraham Lincoln, who won the election, was not on the ballot in Tennessee in 1860. He received one vote in Scott County anyway: Shadrack Lewallen.
The turn to Republican
Scott County’s presidential politics can be directly linked to the 1860 secession crisis. Voters in Scott County voted against secession by the largest margin of any county in Tennessee: 541-19. After Tennessee seceded from the Union, and after Nashville rejected a petition by Union-loyal East Tennessee counties to form their own state after the Greeneville Convention of 1860, Scott County Court voted to secede from Tennessee and declared itself the Free and Independent State of Scott.
In 1864, Abraham Lincoln carried Scott County, although the votes did not count because Tennessee had not been readmitted to the Union (he won the rest of the state, as well).
A footnote in history is that Lincoln was not the nominee for the Republican Party in 1864, but for the short-lived National Union Party, a coalition of Republicans and some Democrats who supported the war effort.
Writing for the Cumberland Chronicle in 1904, Scott County’s first trustee, Jehu Phillips, described it this way: “Before the Civil War the Whig and Democratic parties were about equally divided in this county. I was raised a Democrat, but after the war nearly every citizen in this county voted the Republican ticket and have been doing so in this county since that time.”
Technically, Scott County’s first vote for a Republican presidential candidate came in 1868, when Union war general Ulysses S. Grant carried Scott County and Tennessee en route to victory over Democrat Horatio Seymour. In 1872, when Grant ran for re-election, Scott Countians voted for him by the largest margin of any county in Tennessee. (The state as a whole voted for Liberal Republican Horace Greeley, though the state’s electoral votes ultimately went to Democrat Thomas A. Hendricks after Greeley died in November 1872.)
Four years later, in the presidential election of 1876 that resulted in a constitutional crisis, Scott Countians voted for Republican Rutherford B. Hayes by the largest margin of any county in Tennessee.
Throughout the remainder of the 19th century and into the early 20th century, Middle Tennessee and much of West Tennessee generally voted for the Democratic candidate, while East Tennessee — where secession had been rejected in 1860 — generally voted for the Republican candidate. Each election, Scott Countians and Sevier Countians consistently voted for the Republican candidate by larger margins than almost any other county in the state. This continued until 1912, when Theodore Roosevelt, who had easily carried Scott County eight years earlier, switched to the Progressive Party and much of East Tennessee cast its support to him.
Close Elections
After the Great Depression, as Herbert Hoover sought re-election in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first Democrat candidate since the Civil War to make serious inroads in East Tennessee. A total of 22 counties across the state flipped from Republican to Democrat to support Roosevelt, including Pickett and Campbell counties.
Roosevelt made even deeper inroads in the region when he ran for re-election in 1936, capturing the popular vote in both Morgan and Anderson counties, among others.
However, Scott Countians never voted for Roosevelt. And, in 1944, East Tennessee largely shifted back to the Republican side, favoring Thomas E. Dewey over Roosevelt. One of just two exceptions in East Tennessee was Anderson County, which voted for Roosevelt for a fourth consecutive time.
In 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson was running against Barry Goldwater, a majority of voters in Morgan, Campbell and Anderson counties all voted for Johnson. However, Goldwater carried Scott County by a slim majority of 54.5%.
As the civil rights turmoil roiled in 1968, much of Tennessee shifted from Democrat to the new American Party and its candidate, George Wallace. In Scott County, almost 35% of the vote went to Wallace. However, a majority of voters here — 58.2% — supported Republican candidate Richard Nixon.
In 1976, Jimmy Carter became the second Democrat presidential candidate since the Civil War to make serious inroads in East Tennessee. He carried the vote in every county adjoining Scott County, with the exception of Pickett County. He won in Fentress, Morgan, Anderson and Campbell counties. The vote was close in Scott County, but 51.4% of the vote here went to Republican Gerald Ford. It was, at that time, the closest Scott County had come to voting for a Democrat for president since the Civil War.
In 1992, Bill Clinton won every county adjoining Scott County. A majority of voters in Pickett, Fentress, Morgan, Anderson and Campbell counties all cast ballots for Clinton. However, Scott County continued its trend of supporting Republican candidates by narrowly supporting George H.W. Bush. That election did mark the first time since the Civil War — with the exception of 1912 — that a Republican has captured less than 50% of the vote in Scott County. Bush finished with 46.9%, while Clinton had 42.5% and independent candidate Ross Perot finished with 10%.
Although Pickett County flipped its vote from Clinton to Bob Dole in 1996, the rest of Scott County’s neighbors continued to support Clinton that year. In Scott County, Dole received 46.9% of the vote, while Clinton received 44.5%. Perot’s vote total was 7.7%. The 1996 election marked the closest a Democrat has come to winning Scott County since the Civil War, as of 2020.
Another anomalous year was 2004: A smaller margin of Scott Countians voted for Republican George W. Bush than in most other East Tennessee counties. Nevertheless, Bush easily carried Scott County, capturing 59.1% of the vote to John Kerry’s 40.5%.
The 2004 election marked the last time that fewer than 60% of Scott Countians voted for the Republican candidate. That percentage jumped to 72.7% in 2008, when Republican John McCain was running against Democrat Barack Obama, and rose to 76.7% in 2012, when Mitt Romney faced off against Obama.
In 2016, Scott Countians voted for Republican Donald J. Trump by the second-largest margin of any county in Tennessee: 84.9%. In 2020, 88.4% of Scott Countians voted for Trump — the largest margin of any county in the state. In 2024, 89.6% of Scott Countians voted for Trump, which was again the largest margin of any county in the state.
Year-By-Year
Following is a look at presidential candidates who have won the popular vote in Scott County. The county was formed in 1849.
1852: Winfield Scott, Whig
1856: James Buchanan, Democrat
1860: John Bell, Constitution
1864: Abraham Lincoln, Republican
1868: Ulysses S. Grant, Republican
1872: Ulysses S. Grant, Republican
1876: Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican
1880: James A. Garfield, Republican
1884: James G. Blaine, Republican
1888: Benjamin Harrison, Republican
1892: Benjamin Harrison, Republican
1896: William McKinley, Republican
1900: William McKinley, Republican
1904: Theodore Roosevelt, Republican
1908: William Howard Taft, Republican
1912: Theodore Roosevelt, Progressive
1916: Charles Evan Hughes, Republican
1920: Warren G. Harding, Republican
1924: Calvin Coolidge, Republican
1928: Herbert Hoover, Republican
1932: Herbert Hoover, Republican
1936: Alf Landon, Republican
1940: Wendell Willkie, Republican
1944: Thomas E. Dewey, Republican
1948: Thomas E. Dewey, Republican
1952: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Republican
1956: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Republican
1960: Richard Nixon, Republican
1964: Barry Goldwater, Republican
1968: Richard Nixon, Republican
1972: Richard Nixon, Republican
1976: Gerald Ford, Republican
1980: Ronald Reagan, Republican
1984: Ronald Reagan, Republican
1988: George H.W. Bush, Republican
1992: George H.W. Bush, Republican
1996: Bob Dole, Republican
2000: George W. Bush, Republican
2004: George W. Bush, Republican
2008: John McCain, Republican
2012: Mitt Romney, Republican
2016: Donald J. Trump, Republican
2020: Donald J. Trump, Republican
2024: Donald J. Trump, Republican