 About 15.00% of families and 17.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.90% of those under age 18 and 20.90% of those age 65 or over.From 1921 to 1925, the Democrat Richard M. Chitwood of Sweetwater represented Mitchell County in the state House.He left his post to become the first business manager of Texas Tech University, which he had worked to establish in Sweetwater until the Lubbock site was chosen.