Wilkinson County, Georgia

Wilkinson County
County
Ball's Ferry Landing has been designated as a site on the March to the Sea Heritage Trail.
Location within the U.S. state of 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
Founded	May 11, 1803; 221 years ago (1803)
Named for	James Wilkinson
Seat	Irwinton
Largest city	Gordon
Area
• Total	452 sq mi (1,170 km2)
• Land	447 sq mi (1,160 km2)
• Water	4.6 sq mi (12 km2)  1.0%
Population  (2020)
• Total	8,877
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	8th
Website	www.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]

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]

• Baldwin County (north)
• Bleckley County (south)
• Washington County (northeast)
• Johnson County (east)
• Laurens County (southeast)
• Twiggs County (southwest)
• Jones County (northwest)

• Allentown
• Gordon
• Irwinton (county seat)
• Danville
• Ivey
• McIntyre
• Toomsboro

^[7]

• Nicklesville
• Stephensville

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

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]}

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

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

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Wilkinson County, Georgia
• List of counties in Georgia