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Wilkinson County, Georgia

Coordinates: 32°48′N 83°10′W / 32.80°N 83.17°W / 32.80; -83.17
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Wilkinson County
County
Ball's Ferry Landing has been designated as a site on the March to the Sea Heritage Trail.
Ball's Ferry Landing has been designated as a site on the March to the Sea Heritage Trail.
Map of Georgia highlighting Wilkinson County
Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
Map of the United States highlighting Georgia
Georgia's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 32°48′N 83°10′W / 32.80°N 83.17°W / 32.80; -83.17
Country United States
State Georgia
FoundedMay 11, 1803; 221 years ago (1803)
Named forJames Wilkinson
SeatIrwinton
Largest cityGordon
Area
 • Total
452 sq mi (1,170 km2)
 • Land447 sq mi (1,160 km2)
 • Water4.6 sq mi (12 km2)  1.0%
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
8,877
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district8th
Websitewww.wilkinsoncounty.net

Wilkinson County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,877.[1][2] The county seat is Irwinton.[3] The county was created on May 11, 1803, and named for General James Wilkinson (1757–1825).[4]

Geography

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 452 square miles (1,170 km2), of which 447 square miles (1,160 km2) is land and 4.6 square miles (12 km2) (1.0%) is water.[5] The county is located mainly in the upper Atlantic coastal plain region of the state, but does have some rolling hills due to its close proximity to the fall line.

The entirety of Wilkinson County is located in the Lower Oconee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin.[6]

Major highways

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Adjacent counties

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Communities

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Cities

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Towns

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[7]

Unincorporated communities

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  • Nicklesville
  • Stephensville

Demographics

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Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
18102,154—
18206,992224.6%
18306,513−6.9%
18406,8425.1%
18508,29621.3%
18609,37613.0%
18709,3830.1%
188012,06128.5%
189010,871−9.9%
190011,4405.2%
191010,078−11.9%
192011,37612.9%
193010,844−4.7%
194011,0251.7%
19509,781−11.3%
19609,250−5.4%
19709,3931.5%
198010,36810.4%
199010,228−1.4%
200010,220−0.1%
20109,563−6.4%
20208,877−7.2%
2023 (est.)8,725[8]−1.7%
U.S. Decennial Census[9]
1790-1880[10] 1890-1910[11]
1920-1930[12] 1930-1940[13]
1940-1950[14] 1960-1980[15]
1980-2000[16] 2010[1] 2020[2]
Wilkinson County racial composition as of 2020[17]
Race Num. Perc.
White (non-Hispanic) 5,110 57.56%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 3,163 35.63%
Native American 30 0.34%
Asian 22 0.25%
Pacific Islander 3 0.03%
Other/Mixed 310 3.49%
Hispanic or Latino 239 2.69%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 8,877 people, 3,185 households, and 2,079 families residing in the county.

Politics

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Wilkinson County voted for every Democratic presidential nominee from 1828 to 1960; note that 1828 was the first year in which Georgia held a popular vote for presidential electors and also the first year in which the Democratic Party ran a presidential candidate. However, there was at least one example of Republican success in the county during Reconstruction: in the 1868 gubernatorial election, which was held in April, the Republican ticket swept the county, with Rufus Bullock receiving 59% of the vote; the Republican candidate for county ordinary won by just 1.7%.[18] Decades later, in the 1948 presidential election Harry Truman only won the county by one vote from States’ Rights candidate Strom Thurmond.

In 1964, Wilkinson County voted overwhelmingly for Barry Goldwater, the first Republican presidential nominee to win the county. It also delivered large victories to segregationist American Independent Party candidate George Wallace and Republican Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972 respectively. In the presidential elections of both 1976 and 1980, former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, won the county easily.

In 1984, Democrat Walter Mondale won the county by a 9% margin, which was only the second presidential result in the county within 30% since 1912. This was also the first time since 1848, when Whig Zachary Taylor narrowly won Georgia, that the county voted for a presidential candidate who did not win the state. In the following three presidential elections, Wilkinson continued to give Democratic candidates between 53% and 59% of the vote.

In 2000, Al Gore won Wilkinson County by a margin of 1.3%, or 84 votes, receiving 50.4% to George W. Bush's 48.1%. The county then voted for all three Republican nominees from 2004 to 2012, each time by a margin of less than 1.5%. In 2016, it voted for Donald Trump by a margin of just over 10%. Wilkinson was thus one of many counties in Georgia's historic black belt that demonstrated a significant swing in favor of Republican presidential candidates from 2012 to 2016. Similarly, the county swung from a 0.25% victory for the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee[19] to an 11.63% victory for the 2018 Republican gubernatorial nominee.[20]

Even as it has become more favorable to Republicans at the state and federal level, Wilkinson's county government continued to be dominated by Democrats up until the 2020s. For most of this century the Democratic primary was often tantamount to election. In 2016, Democrats won all six county executive offices without Republican opposition, as well as the three school board seats up for election that year. While the Republican district attorney for the district that includes Wilkinson was also unopposed, he received only 65.6% of ballots cast, compared to at least 72.4% for each unopposed Democratic countywide official.[21] In 2018, Democratic incumbents were reelected unopposed to two of the county's five commission seats unopposed and to a third seat by a 25% margin, as well as winning the race for commission chair unopposed. The Democratic candidate in the open first commission district lost, but by just 2.7%. Both school board members up that year were unopposed Democratic incumbents.[20]

Similarly, the overwhelming majority of primary voters in Wilkinson have chosen Democratic ballots even in recent years, presidential primaries excepted. In 2014, 2,022 of 2,174 primary voters (93.0%) chose Democratic ballots. In 2016, 1,726 of 2,033 primary voters (84.9%) did so, and in 2018, 1,186 of the 1,862 primary voters (63.7%) did so, even in the context of a competitive statewide Republican primary for governor.[22] Three incumbent county commissioners faced opponents in their 2018 primaries; the incumbent county commission chair lost, and the District 2 incumbent won by just one vote.[23]

Prior to the November 2022 elections, Democrats held a majority or 4 out of 5 seats on the County Commission. On election night, a Republican defeated the incumbent Democratic chairman by nearly 20 percentage points. Republicans were also able to flip an additional seat on the commission previously held by a Democrat, and in doing so captured a 3-2 majority. Republicans also captured a seat on the local Board of Education, in which they had none prior to the election.[24] [25]

United States presidential election results for Wilkinson County, Georgia[26]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2024 2,888 58.84% 2,012 40.99% 8 0.16%
2020 2,665 55.87% 2,074 43.48% 31 0.65%
2016 2,333 54.29% 1,894 44.08% 70 1.63%
2012 2,246 50.40% 2,181 48.95% 29 0.65%
2008 2,349 50.21% 2,298 49.12% 31 0.66%
2004 2,261 50.04% 2,235 49.47% 22 0.49%
2000 1,800 48.13% 1,884 50.37% 56 1.50%
1996 1,332 34.08% 2,278 58.28% 299 7.65%
1992 1,232 30.26% 2,286 56.14% 554 13.61%
1988 1,546 45.30% 1,831 53.65% 36 1.05%
1984 1,756 45.52% 2,102 54.48% 0 0.00%
1980 1,116 31.60% 2,365 66.96% 51 1.44%
1976 837 23.99% 2,652 76.01% 0 0.00%
1972 2,196 74.52% 751 25.48% 0 0.00%
1968 685 20.24% 829 24.50% 1,870 55.26%
1964 2,172 69.28% 963 30.72% 0 0.00%
1960 631 32.28% 1,324 67.72% 0 0.00%
1956 393 23.23% 1,299 76.77% 0 0.00%
1952 378 18.83% 1,629 81.17% 0 0.00%
1948 96 8.74% 501 45.59% 502 45.68%
1944 271 26.21% 763 73.79% 0 0.00%
1940 147 13.95% 906 85.96% 1 0.09%
1936 118 14.43% 695 84.96% 5 0.61%
1932 0 0.00% 726 100.00% 0 0.00%
1928 227 31.79% 487 68.21% 0 0.00%
1924 56 15.86% 284 80.45% 13 3.68%
1920 37 12.63% 256 87.37% 0 0.00%
1916 20 4.77% 371 88.54% 28 6.68%
1912 10 2.58% 365 94.32% 12 3.10%

Government

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Current county officials:[27][28][29]

Category Specific office Name Party Year of last election
Executive or judicial office Clerk of Superior Court Cinda Sloan Bright D 2020
Executive or judicial office Coroner William “Billy” Matthews R 2020
Executive or judicial office Probate/Magistrate Judge Lisa Vance Dykes R 2020
Executive or judicial office Sheriff Richard Chatman D 2020
Executive or judicial office County Surveyor Donald D. Brooks D 2020
Executive or judicial office Tax Commissioner Jemesha Anderson D
Board of Commissioners Chairman Anthony Bentley R 2024 Special
Board of Commissioners District 1 Zachery Shepherd R 2022
Board of Commissioners District 2 James Hagins D 2022
Board of Commissioners District 3 Robert Dames R 2022
Board of Commissioners District 4 Anderson Ford D 2022
Board of Education Chairman Roger Smith D 2020
Board of Education District 1 Leigh Scott R 2022
Board of Education District 2 Kimberly S. Watkins D 2022
Board of Education District 3 Leroy Strange D 2020
Board of Education District 4 Charles Pitts D 2020

Education

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The only school district is the Wilkinson County School District.[30]

See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ a b "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  2. ^ a b US 2020 Census Bureau report, Wilkinson County, Georgia
  3. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  4. ^ Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 254. ISBN 0-915430-00-2. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 27, 2003.
  5. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  6. ^ "Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission Interactive Mapping Experience". Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  7. ^ Chambers, Raymond (June 8, 2017). "Municipal Services". New Georgia Encyclopedia.
  8. ^ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  9. ^ "Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decade". United States Census Bureau.
  10. ^ "1880 Census Population by Counties 1790-1800" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1880.
  11. ^ "1910 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1910.
  12. ^ "1930 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1930.
  13. ^ "1940 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1940.
  14. ^ "1950 Census of Population - Georgia -" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1950.
  15. ^ "1980 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1980.
  16. ^ "2000 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 2000.
  17. ^ "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  18. ^ Mason, J.A. (May 1, 1868). "Georgia Elections: Wilkinson County". The Georgia Weekly Telegraph. p. 3. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  19. ^ "Wilkinson - Election Results". ClarityElections. Georgia Secretary of State. November 10, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  20. ^ a b "Wilkinson - Election Results". ClarityElections. Georgia Secretary of State. November 13, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  21. ^ "Wilkinson - Election Results". ClarityElections. Georgia Secretary of State. November 15, 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  22. ^ "Voter History Files". Georgia Secretary of State. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  23. ^ "Wilkinson - Election Night Reporting". ClarityElections. Georgia Secretary of State. May 25, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  24. ^ "Election Night Reporting". results.enr.clarityelections.com.
  25. ^ "Election Night Reporting". results.enr.clarityelections.com.
  26. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  27. ^ "Commissioners". Wilkinson County. Wilkinson County Commission. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  28. ^ "Board Members". Wilkinson County Schools. Wilkinson County Board of Education. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  29. ^ "Qualifying Candidates". Georgia Secretary of State. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  30. ^ "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Wilkinson County, GA" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved September 27, 2024. - Text list
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