ROBESONIAN EDITORIAL
The editorial cartoon to the right of this editorial illustrates exactly what has happened in Robeson County politics over the last decade or so.
Last week, we saw two high profile, local politicians switch party alliances, but not because they’re values have changed.
County Commissioners Lance Herndon and Judy Sampson announced that they intend to switch political party affiliations from Democrat to Republican.
The switch gives Republicans now have a 5-3 majority on the Robeson County Board of Commissioners, not that party affiliation really matters much when it comes to setting policy on the county level.
In fact, we’d venture to guess that any of the commissioners would agree with Herndon’s statement that their personal politics and values don’t change.
Instead, Herndon said he found that the Democratic Party has abandoned any conservative values it once supported. Let us be clear, this is not an endorsement of any candidate or political party, it is merely observational based on Robesonian interviews and research.
Robeson County voters have drifted more to the “The story goes that back in the 1940s and ’50s, when the Robeson County Republicans were looking for a meeting place, they were offered the phone booth at the County Courthouse,” said Phillip Stevens, Robeson County Republican Party chairman. “Last weekend, during the Lincoln Reagan Dinner we filled the Southeastern NC Agricultural Center because that was the only venue big enough to hold everyone who wanted to attend.”
That tale isn’t much of an exaggeration.
In fact, when we did a little digging we found the following, which illustrates how party alliances have changed during the last several General Election cycles.
Here are the results of the Presidential elections showing only Democrat and Republican votes.
How Robeson County Voted
2024 General Election
President
Republican (Donald Trump) 63.39%
Democrat (Kamala Harris), 35.77%
2020 General Election
President
Republican: 58.93% (Donald Trump)
Democrat: 40.31% (Kamala Harris)
2016 General Election
President
Republican: 50.82% (Donald Trump)
Democrat: 46.54.% (Hillary Clinton)
2012 General Election
President
Democrat: 58.18.% (Barack Obama)
Republican: 40.77% (Mitt Romney)
Straight Party Vote
Democrats: 78.75%
Republicans: 20.11%
2008 General Election
President
Democrat: 56.47% (Obama/Biden)
Republican: 42.69% (McCain/Palin)
Straight Party Vote
Democrats: 81.58%
Republicans: 17.26%
2004 General Election
President
Democrat: 52.75% (John Kerry)
Republican: 46.97% (G W. Bush)
As one of the largest traditionally Blue Dog counties (Democrats with conservative, or at least moderate, values), Robeson is now shifting very much to the right. The days of Blue Dog Democrats is all but gone here in Robeson County
And as political parties — especially the Democrats — continue to leave their moderate constituents behind, we’ll continue to see Robeson County become more Republican.
Depending on your personal politics, that may be OK. So, what does that mean on the county level? Well, not much.
We expect our local officials to continue serving our county as they always have, with an eye toward public service and blind to party lines.
