Election results and map: Wikipedia
3rd party votes: 8.9% in 1992, 9.4% in 1996, 2.6% in 2016
(Alabama segregationist George Wallace received 8.7% of the vote in 1968)
Headline: New York Times, 6/19/2025
When Dr. Brandon Crum, 50, opened his radiology clinic in Coal Run Village, Ky., [located in Pike County] in 2013, he didn’t expect to encounter many grave cases of black lung.
Rates had fallen in the years after Congress passed the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, which put limitations on acceptable levels of dust and established a federal program for black lung benefits. During the 1990s, the government documented only a few dozen cases, a low number even when accounting for the steep decline in mining jobs. Progressive massive fibrosis, the type of black lung the Brocks have, was nearly eradicated.
Dr. Crum, a Kentucky native, was well aware of the trends. Before attending medical school, he had worked at his family’s mine as a teenager until the coal reserves ran out.
But quickly, Dr. Crum began seeing a shocking amount of progressive massive fibrosis: 60 cases over about 18 months. And the patients were often younger. One was just 44. [emphasis added]
Current population: 55,430
Down 32% from 1950 peak of 81,154
Pike County now has fewer residents than it did in the mid-1920s.
Prime-time MAGA demographics
Level of education: % of population 25 and over with bachelor's degree or higher:
- 16.0% - Pike County
- 27.0% - Kentucky
- 35.0% - U.S.
Age: % of population 65:
- 20.9% - Pike County
- 17.8% - Kentucky
- 17.7% - U.S.
% living in poverty:
- 23.4% - Pike County
- 16.4% - Kentucky
- 11.1% - U.S.
One-third of Pike County residents are on Medicaid.
Related post:
Greetings from Trump's America: Harland County, Kentucky, where black lung disease makes a comeback as Donald Trump shreds nation's safety net. (6/20/2025)
Greetings from Trump's America: Pike County, Kentucky, home base of Masochists for Trump. (6/9/2025)
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