 In the 2008 presidential election, Republican candidate John McCain received 24,716 votes in the county (50.60% of the total) to Democrat candidate Barack Obama's 23,258 (47.62%), even as Obama carried the state of Michigan by a double-digit margin.McCain's margin of victory in the county was narrower than usual for a Republican candidate.In 2004, Republican president George W. Bush received 27,446 votes in the county (59.42%) to Democrat John Kerry's 18,256 (39.52%).