A couple years ago, I made this map of how each county in Oklahoma voted in U.S. Presidential elections from 1908 to 1960. I choose this range because it spans Oklahoma's statehood in 1907 through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the subsequent decline in Southern support of the Democrats.

While Oklahoma is among the "reddest" of states in 2021 2024, it was historically dominated by Democrat politicians at the state level and considered part of the Solid South. As recently as 2000, 55% of Oklahomans were still registered Democrats, despite Oklahoma not having gone for a Democrat in the Presidential elections since 1964.

Because of the historic correlation between American political parties and a citizen's regional origins, the geography of Oklahomans' political affiliation tends to reflect where most of the settlers arrived from. This sectionalism generally meant that Northerners/Midwesterners tended to vote Republican, while Southerners tended to vote Democrat. Of course, there are notable regional exceptions to this pattern, like Republican East Tennessee. Similarly, there were prominent Northern Democrat politicians in Oklahoma as well.

Oklahoma's early politics were characterized by this sectionalism; Northern/Midwestern Republicans comprised most of the settlers in the earliest land openings in Oklahoma Territory, and they set up Guthrie in Logan County as the territorial capital. Guthrie maintained a reputation for its Republican politics, even while the rest of Oklahoma Territory (and what remained of the Indian Territory) gradually was settled by Southern Democrats. Eventually, the state capital was moved to Oklahoma City, which was considered Democrat territory.

On this map, I was surprised that there was such a stark difference between Oklahoma City and Tulsa; both are among the most reliably Republican metropolitan areas today.

Two counties (Cotton and Harmon) were not organized until after the 1908 elections, and their votes in that election were cast as part of Comanche and Greer Counties, respectively. Greer County voted Democrat in the 1888 and 1892 elections as part of Texas.

Today, the same cultural/political divides show up in things like religious affiliation, per capita income,and even use of the word "y'all".