Donald Trump was not the first GOP presidential nominee to sweep Oklahoma’s 77 counties

There’s little doubt that former President Donald Trump has been popular in Oklahoma: In 2016 and 2020, Trump won more than 65% of the votes cast in the Sooner State. But did he set a record by winning all 77 counties?

That’s what Trump told conservative radio host Dan Bongino in a recent interview.

The topic arose Feb. 5 because of Trump’s opposition to a bipartisan immigration legislation crafted in the Senate. Trump has assailed the proposal as a "betrayal of America." And he told Republican senators to "blame it on me" if they get criticism from their constituents for voting it down the measure, which had a Republican from Oklahoma, Sen. James Lankford, among its leading negotiators.

Calling in to Bongino’s show, Trump said he "did not endorse" Lankford (which is false; Trump endorsed him in 2022). In Oklahoma, he said, "I won 77 out of 77 counties. Ronald Reagan is second with 56."

Although Trump did win every Oklahoma county, he is far from the first to do so.

"Not a single county in Oklahoma has voted Democratic in a presidential election since 2000 — a 385-for-385 record for the GOP," wrote the Almanac of American Politics 2024, a biennial reference book. (The author of this article is a senior author of the Almanac.)

The Republican presidential nominees in 2004 (George W. Bush), 2008 (John McCain) and 2012 (Mitt Romney) preceded Trump in winning all 77 counties in Oklahoma.

The last Democrat to win any Oklahoma county was Al Gore, who ran against George W. Bush in 2000. Gore won nine counties, mostly in the eastern part of the state; these counties were ancestrally Democratic but like many other rural parts of the U.S. increasingly shifted allegiance to the GOP.

Reagan also did better than Trump said he did. In 1980, he won 58 Oklahoma counties, and in 1984, he won 74.

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In 2020, Oklahoma was one of only two states in which Trump swept every county; West Virginia was the other. Trump came close to sweeping a few other states: Kentucky, where he won all but two of 120 counties; Indiana, where he won all but five of 92 counties; and Tennessee, where he won all but three of 95 counties.

Our ruling

Trump said that in Oklahoma, "I won 77 out of 77 counties. Ronald Reagan is second with 56."

Trump won each of Oklahoma’s counties in 2016 and 2020, but he was far from the first to do so. Other Republican presidential nominees accomplished this feat in 2004, 2008 and 2012.

The two times Reagan was on the ballot, he won 58 and 74 counties in Oklahoma, which is higher than Trump said.

We rate the statement Mostly False.