 After John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Hubert Humphrey easily carried the county in 1960, 1964, and 1968, respectively, Cottle County again voted for the Democratic candidate in the 1972 election, as it was the only county in Texas north of Maverick County (Eagle Pass) to have been won by George McGovern, albeit by a margin of only seven votes.After Jimmy Carter carried it in 1976 and 1980, Walter Mondale won a majority of the county's votes in 1984
, Michael Dukakis won the county in 1988 and Bill Clinton carried it in 1992 and 1996.Like the rest of the Bible Belt, Cottle has trended powerfully Republican and in the last five elections, the Republican nominee has won more than two-thirds of the vote.