 From the founding of the Republican Party until the New Deal, Essex County was a Republican stronghold in presidential elections.Since 1936, it has trended Democratic, with Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 being the only Republicans to carry the county since.Like several other Massachusetts counties, Essex County exists today only as a historical geographic region, and has no county government.