CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Montgomery County came out strong for former President Donald Trump on Tuesday – stronger than in years past, but with a nearly historic low voter turnout.
Locally, Trump won 58.3% of the vote to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 39.9%. A total of 47,785 voted locally for Trump, while 32,723 voted for Harris. That’s more support than Trump received locally in 2020, when he carried 55%. Statewide this year, Trump had even more support, at 65%.
While Montgomery County as a whole remains red, precinct-by-precinct results provided by the Montgomery County Election Commission show that support this year was mostly in the suburban and rural areas of the county.
Support broke for Harris primarily in north and west Clarksville, including Fort Campbell, and the downtown and Hilldale areas, but the margins were slim. Much of northeast Clarksville, St. Bethlehem and Sango areas swung for Trump, and support was heaviest in the county outside the city limits, particularly the Dotsonville/Woodlawn area, where the precinct had 81% Trump support.
Montgomery County hasn’t gone with a Democratic presidential candidate since 1996, when the county supported Bill Clinton over Bob Dole. Here are Montgomery County’s presidential picks, going back to that election:
- 1996: Bill Clinton, D, over Bob Dole, R
- 2000: George W. Bush, R, over Al Gore, D
- 2004: George W. Bush, R, over John Kerry, D
- 2008: John McCain, R, over Barack Obama, D
- 2012: Mitt (“Mitch”) Romney, R, over Barack Obama, D
- 2016: Donald Trump, R, over Hillary Clinton, D
- 2020: Donald Trump, R, over Joe Biden, D
- 2024: Donald Trump, R, over Kamala Harris, D
Voter turnout low
This year’s presidential election drew one the lowest percentage of voters in decades, at only 54.18%. Historically, presidential election voter turnout in Montgomery County has been above 60%, but for the last three cycles, it’s dropped into the mid-50s:
- 1996: 64.19%
- 2000: 59.39%
- 2004: 63.59%
- 2008: 63.15%
- 2012: 62.65%
- 2016: 53.7%
- 2020: 58.64%
- 2024: 54.18%
This year’s participation was only slightly better than the worst turnout in the last 30 years, which was in 2016.
Trump voters: ‘He’s a good leader’
Montgomery County voters told Clarksville Now their support for Trump was rooted in his approach to the economy, abortion and the military.
At Woodlawn Elementary School, Toni Merren, also said she voted for Trump. “Things were a little crazy when he was president, but things were good. I didn’t feel very confident in Kamala Harris. I’m hoping there will be certain things that we will see again like when he was president. We had lower interest rates, and some of those things were great.”
Another Woodlawn voter, Raquel Hunter said she voted for Trump. “I like that he is against abortion and this ‘new style’ life. He’s a good leader.”
At the Wilma Rudolph Event Center, Donna Smith, 53, said she voted for Trump and his vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance. “I grew up a Republican, and I’m military myself. My dad’s former military too. They support the military, and everything was just better when he was president. Now, it’s not so good.”
“I voted for Mr. Trump,” said Eun Koung Hun. “To give you the reason, I didn’t have much of a choice. … We really didn’t have enough choices.” Hun said she felt Trump was the better choice of the two.
Harris voters: ‘Obvious, logical choice’
Harris supporters told Clarksville Now they liked her stance on democracy, abortion and the economy.
At Northwest High School, Fallon Bechtel, a social worker, said she voted for Harris. “Our country, I feel like, doesn’t look the same as it did 10, 20, 30 years ago. I feel like we’re on the precipice of something big and it’s a little scary. We’re seeing a lot of threats to democracy and threats to the election system and a lot of us feel that pressure. But I also feel like it’s never been more important to get involved and familiarize yourself with the candidates.
“In this case, I feel like Kamala Harris is the obvious, logical choice,” Bechtel said. “You have this one presidential candidate, her, that’s got all this experience, she was in all these different branches of the government and she’s the sitting vice president currently; she’s been an attorney general, she’s got lots of experience and compassion and tenacity, and she’s gone toe to toe with drug cartels.”
Also at Wilma Rudolph, Tiffany Kiser said she voted Harris. “I really just agree with everything she’s put forward. Let’s move forward and not look back.”
Katie Gregory also voted for Harris. “I believe that women should have reproductive freedoms in our country; I think that the economic plan is much better than Donald Trump’s. And I truly believe that there are some medical issues and competency issues with Trump that I have concerns about being able to uphold the duties of the office of the president.”
Sara Turkow said she reluctantly voted for Harris. “She’s the less of the crappiest of the two. I haven’t voted since 2008, and this year seemed to be more important. No offense, but I don’t want Trump. … I would have rather voted for Robert Kennedy Jr., but he wasn’t on the list.”
Jordan Renfro and Christian Brown contributed to this report.
MORE ELECTION NEWS:
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- Sen. Bill Powers wins re-election: ‘It’s an affirmation I’m doing a good job’
- Aron Maberry wins state House 68: ‘This has been a long campaign’
- Rep. Jeff Burkhart wins re-election: ‘We were fighting California, New York and everyone else’
- City Council winners on how campaigns went, what’s next for Clarksville