Local The
Democratic Party historically controlled politics at the local level in Pemiscot County. However, the county has not been immune to the growing Republican trend in Southeast Missouri. In 2020, two Democratic incumbents switched parties, and Lisa Bowlby Sheckell (R) was elected in a contested election for the County Assessor. The Democratic Party continues to hold a majority of offices as of 2022.
State The northern half of Pemiscot County is a part of Missouri's 149th District in the
Missouri House of Representatives and is currently represented by
Don Rone Jr. (R-
Portageville). The southern half of Pemiscot County is a part of Missouri's 150th District in the Missouri House of Representatives and is currently represented by
Andrew McDaniel (R-
Deering). All of Pemiscot County is a part of Missouri's 25th District in the
Missouri Senate and is currently represented by Republican
Jason Bean of
Poplar Bluff. The 25th Senatorial District consists of
Butler,
Carter,
Dunklin,
Mississippi,
New Madrid, Pemiscot,
Shannon, and
Stoddard counties.
Federal Pemiscot County is included in
Missouri's 8th Congressional District and is currently represented by
Jason T. Smith (R-
Salem) in the
U.S. House of Representatives. Smith won a special election on Tuesday, June 4, 2013, to finish out the remaining term of
U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-
Cape Girardeau). Emerson announced her resignation a month after being reelected with over 70 percent of the vote in the district. She resigned to become CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative. Pemiscot County, along with the rest of the state of Missouri, is represented in the
U.S. Senate by
Josh Hawley (R-
Columbia) and
Roy Blunt (R-
Strafford). Blunt was elected to a second term in
2016 over then-Missouri Secretary of State
Jason Kander.
Political culture At the presidential level, Pemiscot County, lying in the
Missouri Bootheel (one of the regions in Missouri most associated with the
American South), was powerfully Democratic from shortly after the
Civil War through 2000. From 1868 through 2000, it voted Republican only in Harding's, Hoover's, Nixon's, and Reagan's national landslides in 1920, 1928, 1972, and 1984, respectively. In 1968, it was the only county in Missouri to vote for George Wallace. In 2004, George W. Bush flipped the county from blue to red, albeit narrowly, and since then, the county has solidified its standing as a Republican bastion. As of 2020, the county has voted Republican five times in a row, with the Republican vote share increasing in every election. In 2008, Pemiscot County swung the most Republican of all the counties in the state, as McCain improved on Bush's vote share by fully 6.2%, already besting not only Bush but every Republican to have carried the county in at least the prior hundred years apart from Nixon in 1972. In 2020, Donald Trump posted the best showing for a Republican in the county in at least over a century, with his nearly 72% exceeding Nixon's 70%. Similarly to other highly rural Southern counties in the 21st century, the Democratic raw vote total has decreased in every election since then as well. As in most rural areas throughout Missouri, voters in Pemiscot County generally adhere to socially and culturally
conservative principles, but are more moderate or
populist on economic issues, typical of the
Dixiecrat philosophy. In 2004, Missourians voted on
a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union between a man and a woman—it passed Pemiscot County with 84.73 percent of the vote. The initiative passed the state with 71 percent of support from voters, as Missouri became the first state to ban
same-sex marriage. In 2006, Missourians voted on
a constitutional amendment to fund and legalize embryonic stem cell research in the state—it failed in Pemiscot County, with 52.41 percent voting against the measure. The initiative narrowly passed the state with 51 percent of support from voters, as Missouri became one of the first states in the nation to approve
embryonic stem cell research. Despite Pemiscot County's longstanding tradition of supporting socially conservative platforms, voters in the county have a penchant for advancing
populist causes, such as increasing the
minimum wage. In 2006, Missourians voted on a proposition (Proposition B) to increase the minimum wage in the state to $6.50 an hour—it passed Pemiscot County with 78.01 percent of the vote. The proposition strongly passed every single county in Missouri with 78.99 percent voting in favor as the minimum wage was increased to $6.50 an hour in the state. During the same election, voters in five other states strongly approved increases in the minimum wage.
Missouri presidential preference primary (2008) In the 2008 presidential primary, voters in Pemiscot County from both political parties supported candidates who finished in second place in the state at large and nationally. Former
U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (D-
New York) received more votes, a total of 1,270, than any candidate from either party in Pemiscot County during the 2008 presidential primary. She also received more votes than the total number of votes cast in the entire Republican Primary in Pemiscot County. ==See also==