Catholic immigrants from Eastern Europe who congregated in neighborhoods such as Slavic Village, St. Clair, and Tremont came out in droves for Smith. While Hoover remained popular among Cleveland’s Black community, Smith was the first Democrat to make inroads there.
Cleveland, Ohio has not voted Republican in a presidential race since 1920. Al Smith’s 1928 victory played a crucial role in solidifying the city’s allegiance to the Democratic Party, largely due to his appeal among the various growing immigrant communities.
Packed crowd for Walz!
Tim Walz is coming to Youngstown! He’ll be holding a town hall (since Rep. Rulli won’t) addressing the Trump admin cuts and how they affect Americans. Sign-up to attend as spots are limited!
www.mobilize.us/ohdems/event...
Trumbull County swung roughly 8 points to Democrats from 1980, attributed to the Republican Party’s hostility towards labor unions and Reagan’s handling of the steel industry collapsing.
Neighboring Mahoning County (Youngstown), was Mondale’s strongest county in Ohio.
Behold - The 1984 Election in Trumbull County, mapped by precinct.
Trumbull was ground zero for Walter Mondale’s coalition of organized labor, raking up major victories in Warren and Niles, as well as in neighboring Sharon and Youngstown exurbs.
Quick map tonight - Mon River towns saw a major realignment in 1928 when traditionally Progressive/Republican voters overwhelmingly voted for Al Smith.
This was the emergence of the Democratic Party as a pro-labor party, as both Braddock and Rankin were mill towns.
Happy Groundhog Day!
While Punxsutawney has always been staunchly Republican, the surrounding township containing Gobbler’s Knob was once very friendly to Democrats, especially Catholic Democrats.
Here are the 1928 and 1960 elections in the region mapped by precinct.
Smith also was able to score a major win in the City of Lackawanna, populated by mainly Catholic immigrants anchored by Our Lady of Victory Basilica.
Smith was strongest with German Catholics in the city’s East Side and Elliott District, Italians in the Lower West Side, Irish dockworkers in the First Ward, and Polish immigrants in the Broadway-Fillmore district. This coalition would later keep Buffalo Democratic for decades.
Hoover’s main strength came from English Canadians, upper-middle-class neighborhoods surrounding Delaware Park, Croatians & Hungarians in Riverside, and African Americans in the Fruit Belt, although Smith started to make inroads in this community.
The 1928 Election saw a major coalition change where the Democratic Party made inroads in the North - predominantly in urban communities populated by newly arrived Catholic immigrants. The results in Buffalo were close, with Hoover narrowly winning the rapidly changing city.
Just realized I forgot to edit the results - Pitkin was 54/45 for McGovern
A simple Bluesky thread can’t do the whole story of Thompson’s campaign justice - the entire campaign is very interesting to learn about as it showcased counterculture’s influence of American politics and planted the seeds for future grassroots campaigns.
Two years later Thompson would publish his reporting on the 1972 Presidential election in the famous “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72”.
McGovern was able to flip Pitkin Co., a sign that the area was becoming more and more progressive.
The Freak Power platform was immortalized in The Rolling Stones article “The Battle of Aspen”. His platform included disarming the police, decriminalizing drugs, changing the name of Aspen to Fat City, and changing the roads to sod to get rid of traffic, among other things.
In 1970, author and gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson ran for Sheriff of Pitkin County on the Freak Power ticket.
While Thompson lost to the conservative incumbent, his run paved way for more progressive campaigns as progressive ideas started to seep into the national scene.
First post on Bluesky! Here’s a comparison between the 1984 and 2024 Presidential Elections in the Pittsburgh Metro.
It’s unlikely that we will see coalitions akin to 1984 in our lifetime.