Part 2 in a planned 99-part series profiling each of Iowa’s counties before the 2018 general election. Last week’s post on Adams County is here. -promoted by desmoinesdem
This week I will review our second smallest county in terms of population, Ringgold County.
The 2010 census found 5,131 people living in the entire 539 square miles that are within Ringgold County. Ringgold County is located south and west of Des Moines. According to Google Maps, the county seat of Ringgold County, Mounty Ayr, is 89.2 road miles from the Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines. Ringgold County was founded in 1847 when it was split from Des Moines County. The highest population in the county was 15,325 in the 1900 census. Ringgold County has lost population in every census since that time except for less than 1% increases from the previous census in the 1920 and 2000 censuses.
The racial makeup of the county in the 2010 census was 99.07% White, 0.11% Black or African American, 0.22% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 0.02% from other races, and 0.42% from two or more races. 0.24% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. An extremely non-diverse county in terms of race.
14.3 percent of the population live in households with income at or below the poverty level. The per capita income was estimated at $29,468 which ranks 93rd of 99 in counties in Iowa. Ringgold County had the 12th lowest unemployment rate in 2010, 4.7%. (As of November 2016 the unemployment rate was 2.7%.) In terms of educational attainment, Ringgold County has the 21st highest rate of residents having received a bachelors degree or higher, 20.8 percent.
Ringgold County is currently a part of the 3rd congressional district, represented by David Young-R since 2015. Currently Ringgold County is a part of the 12th District in the Iowa Senate represented by Mark Costello-R and part of the 24th District in the Iowa House of Representatives represented by Cecile Dolecheck-R.
Recent election results are after the jump.
2016 Elections Results
Donald Trump 1,820 (67.33%) Hillary Clinton 753 (27.86%) Others 130 (4.81%)
US Senate Chuck Grassley 1,987 (74.06%) Patty Judge 616 (22.96%) Others 80 (2.98%)
US House David Young 1,818 (69.95%) Jim Mowrer 652 (25.09%) Other 207 (4.96%)
Iowa Senate- Mark Costello-R 1,665 (75.31%) Brantz-L 541 (24.47%) Others 5 (0.23%) NO DEMOCRATIC candidate
Iowa House- Cecil Dolecheck (unopposed)
Since 1960, the Republican Nominee has carried Ringgold County 9 times and the Democratic Nominee 6 times, as recently as 1996. In fact, it was one of only 16 counties that did NOT vote for Reagan in 1984. Romney carried Ringgold county in 2012 by only 7 percent while Trump won in 2016 with a 40 percent advantage! President Bill Clinton won Ringgold County by 17% in 1996.
The Ringgold County Board of Supervisors has a 2-1 Republican majority. Democrats hold the office of County Sheriff. Republicans hold the office of County Auditor. While Ringgold County was an electoral disaster for Democrats in 2016, at the presidential level it has been competitive as recently as 2012.
Many 2016 election post mortems have pointed out the disastrous (for Democrats) collapse of support in rural areas that have little demographic diversity. Ringgold County is an almost perfect example of this problem. Democrats cannot expect to find electoral success when losing counties by 40 percent in Presidential elections, 52 percent in Senate elections, 45 percent in US House elections, and definitely not by failing to have a candidate for Iowa Senate and Iowa House.
Next week: Audubon County
Sources: Iowa State University Iowa Community Indicators Program, Wikipedia, Dave Leip’s Atlas of Presidential Elections, Iowan Official Register (The Redbook).