Last time any Detroit precinct voted Republican in a Presidential election

**MicrosoftFan** · January-13-20, 07:26 PM

I'm thinking one of the residency-requirement-era cop neighborhoods along the outskirts of the city in 1988 for H.W. Bush. Thoughts/Data/Sources?

**Jason** · January-13-20, 08:09 PM

Here's a map for 2016: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...nct-maps.html?

Downtown and SW Detroit were like 10-20% for Trump.

**Danny** · January-14-20, 06:18 AM

Since 1962 With Louis Mariani. Then Detroit want democratic all the way.

**renf** · January-14-20, 07:05 AM

The national Republican part selected Detroit as their convention city as
recently as 1980. I doubt they would make that decision today but they
will need to carry Michigan if our president is to serve four more years. I don't think John James has coattails to help him.

**CassTechGrad** · January-14-20, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by Danny

Since 1962 With Louis Mariani. Then Detroit want democratic all the way.

And how has that turned out for the city and its residents? What’s that saying about doing the same thing over and over and………………….

**Atticus** · January-14-20, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

And how has that turned out for the city and its residents? WhatÂ’s that saying about doing the same thing over and over and…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â….

Both parties have been more concerned with sabotaging the other party as of late, and trying to make sure their opponent is unable to do anything beneficial.

Point being, your argument basically revolves around the concept that Detroit should vote conservative and hope the Democrats don’t sabotage the Republican ideas, because maybe they would benefit the city. The problem is most conservative ideas work against minorities and urbanists, and the few conservative ideas that would be good for the city are too complex for the average voter to comprehend.

**Wheels** · January-14-20, 11:34 AM

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Their is a name for that!

**aj3647** · January-14-20, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

And how has that turned out for the city and its residents? What’s that saying about doing the same thing over and over and………………….

What relevance does Detroit's PRESIDENTIAL voting preferences have on anything related to the city? I can't think of a single Presidential election that was swung by Detroit and Detroit alone. That being said, there were numerous extended periods of Republican leadership at both the national level [[8 years of Reagan, 4 of HW, 8 of Dubya, now Trump) and state level [[Engler, Snyder, etc.) where the decline of Detroit continued unabated, with zero interest paid to it by Republicans at any level.

I would also love to hear how a Republican mayor would have somehow stemmed the tide of the loss of local manufacturing that began in the 80's. Through magic powers?

**iheartthed** · January-14-20, 12:48 PM

Detroit's almost century long population decline started under a Republican mayor.

**Wheels** · January-14-20, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Detroit's almost century long population decline started under a Republican mayor.

Dont kid yourself. It’s the century part that did the damage!

**aj3647** · January-14-20, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by Wheels

Dont kid yourself. It’s the century part that did the damage!

If only Detroit had a Republican mayor in the 80's and 90's, all those steel plants and auto factories and other manufacturing jobs would still be here...somehow...magically. Dude would have waved his magic wand to make Detroit immune to the outsourcing that affected the entire country and was driven by global economic factors outside the control of one American mayor...

**iheartthed** · January-14-20, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by Wheels

Dont kid yourself. It’s the century part that did the damage!

Nah, it was the Republican.

They finally stripped his name from the convention center, thank God.

**EastsideAl** · January-14-20, 04:14 PM

All discussion of current-day politics aside, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Reagan won some Detroit precincts in the '84 landslide election, or even Bush in '88. It seems somewhat unlikely after that. In any event, precinct level historical stats on elections seem to be unobtainable without doing a huge amount of research.

From what I can tell, Charles Oakman from '53 to '55 was the last Republican to represent any significant portion of Detroit in the US House. Historical districting data and election results for the state legislature are hard to come by, but I would not be surprised if portions of Detroit elected a GOP representative after that date.

For all the talk though about "Republican" mayors of Detroit, like Miriani or Cobo [[or for that matter the "Democratic" mayors after them), we would do well to remember that city voters did not elect them as Republicans on the ballot. Detroit mayoral elections have been held on a non-partisan basis since 1918.

Detroit has long been primarily a Democratic city. Detroit [[indeed all of Wayne County) has been won by the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 1932.

**Metro25** · January-14-20, 04:34 PM

Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

And how has that turned out for the city and its residents? What’s that saying about doing the same thing over and over and………………….

Typical partisan propaganda people love pushing about urban areas voting blue.

The irony is the problems they face were caused by republicans and their voters who left, segregated and dis-invested in inner cities with racist motivations. And now you're going to act like people voting for what's in line with their best interests is somehow hurting them.

**MicrosoftFan** · January-14-20, 04:37 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

All discussion of current-day politics aside, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Reagan won some Detroit precincts in the '84 landslide election, or even Bush in '88. It seems somewhat unlikely after that. In any event, precinct level historical stats on elections seem to be unobtainable without doing a huge amount of research.

From what I can tell, Charles Oakman from '53 to '55 was the last Republican to represent any significant portion of Detroit in the US House. Historical districting data and election results for the state legislature are hard to come by, but I would not be surprised if portions of Detroit elected a GOP representative after that date.

For all the talk though about "Republican" mayors of Detroit, like Miriani or Cobo [[or for that matter the "Democratic" mayors after them), we would do well to remember that city voters did not elect them as Republicans on the ballot. Detroit mayoral elections have been held on a non-partisan basis since 1918.

Detroit has long been primarily a Democratic city. Detroit [[indeed all of Wayne County) has been won by the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 1932.

What part of the city did Oakman represent?

**Metro25** · January-14-20, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Nah, it was the Republican.

They finally stripped his name from the convention center, thank God.

It was the republican who went on a crazy demolition spree, targeted and destroyed entire thriving communities of Detroit with highways and renewal or just did it because they felt like it with original city hall.

Clearly voting R worked out HORRIBLY for Detroit. So why, why on EARTH would we ever do such a thing again? No thank you!

I mean all you have to do is look at Michigan's last governor. Who literally poisoned their own constituents? hmm pretty sure it was an R! Republican!

Funny how that has worked out for us. Maybe voting R is working out better in rural Mississippi?

**iheartthed** · January-14-20, 06:18 PM

Oakland County has gone through a pretty substantial economic decline over the past couple of decades while being led by a Republican. The county went from being one of the top 5 most affluent counties in the country during the 1990s, to not even being in the top 30 today.

**swingline** · January-14-20, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by aj3647

What relevance does Detroit's PRESIDENTIAL voting preferences have on anything related to the city? I can't think of a single Presidential election that was swung by Detroit and Detroit alone. That being said, there were numerous extended periods of Republican leadership at both the national level [[8 years of Reagan, 4 of HW, 8 of Dubya, now Trump) and state level [[Engler, Snyder, etc.) where the decline of Detroit continued unabated, with zero interest paid to it by Republicans at any level.

I would also love to hear how a Republican mayor would have somehow stemmed the tide of the loss of local manufacturing that began in the 80's. Through magic powers?

You're right about party affiliation being mostly irrelevant to the arc of Detroit's economic history.

However, sorry about the threadjack, but you're wrong about Detroit not swinging a presidential race. In Michigan it was Detroiters alone who swung the race to President Trump who won the state by 10,000 votes. 40,000 fewer Detroiters voted in 2016 than in 2012. Of the Detroiters who did vote, over 90% voted for Hillary Clinton. Some other pressing engagement must have come up for those 40,000.

**softailrider** · January-15-20, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Oakland County has gone through a pretty substantial economic decline over the past couple of decades while being led by a Republican. The county went from being one of the top 5 most affluent counties in the country during the 1990s, to not even being in the top 30 today.

So say it’s in the top 50, or top 100 now. That’s out of how many counties in the United States?

**Danny** · January-16-20, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

And how has that turned out for the city and its residents? What’s that saying about doing the same thing over and over and………………….

Detroit will never be a Republican city until they more republicans living and working the city. Detroit will remain Democratic and too liberal for hundreds of years to come.

**EastsideAl** · January-16-20, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by MicrosoftFan

What part of the city did Oakman represent?

District maps for that era are hard to come by, but I believe it was the far west side. In the years I'm aware of, that district, the 17th, included sections of northwest Detroit. In the 1952 election it was a newly remapped district, and Oakman barely defeated his Democratic opponent, Martha Griffiths. In the 1954 election Griffiths would come back to defeat Oakman and would hold the seat for the next 20 years.

**renf** · January-16-20, 12:01 PM

There are 3242 counties or county equivalents in the US. Louisiana has parishes, not counties, and Alaska has boroughs. Virginia has independent cities as well as counties.

**Wheels** · January-24-20, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by Metro25

It was the republican who went on a crazy demolition spree, targeted and destroyed entire thriving communities of Detroit with highways and renewal or just did it because they felt like it with original city hall.

Clearly voting R worked out HORRIBLY for Detroit. So why, why on EARTH would we ever do such a thing again? No thank you!

I mean all you have to do is look at Michigan's last governor. Who literally poisoned their own constituents? hmm pretty sure it was an R! Republican!

Funny how that has worked out for us. Maybe voting R is working out better in rural Mississippi?

And you think that was worse then what Kwame did in the run up to the Superbowl?