 In 1992, with the third party entrance of Ross Perot siphoning votes from Republican George H.W.Bush, Bill Clinton became the first Democrat to carry the county in 140 years, and in 2008 Illinois son, Barack Obama, became the first Democrat to win an absolute majority since Van Buren in the county's first-ever Presidential election of 1840.Obama repeated this in 2012, but gains for third party candidates caused both major party candidates to underperform in 2016.