Leslie County was founded in 1878. It was named for Preston H. Leslie, Governor of Kentucky. The Hurricane Creek mine disaster in a Leslie County coal mine in 1970 killed 38 people. After resigning the presidency, Richard Nixon made his first public appearance at the Leslie County dedication of a recreation facility named for him. County Judge-Executive C. Allen Muncy claimed the Nixon invitation prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to obtain indictments of him and his associates on vote-fraud charges; while on appeal for his conviction, he won renomination in the Republican primary but lost the 1981 general election to independent Kermit Keen.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
As of the census of 2000, there were 12,401 people, 4,885 households, and 3,668 families residing in the county. The population density was. There were 5,502 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 97.18% White, 0.07% Black or African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.05% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races; 0.62% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 4,885 households out of which 35.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.30% were married couplesliving together, 12.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.90% were non-families. 22.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.94. In the county, the population was spread out with 24.60% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 30.90% from 25 to 44, 23.90% from 45 to 64, and 11.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 95.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.20 males. The median income for a household in the county was $18,546, and the median income for a family was $22,225. Males had a median income of $28,708 versus $18,080 for females. The per capita income for the county was $10,429. About 30.20% of families and 32.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 38.80% of those under age 18 and 27.00% of those age 65 or over.
Leslie County is one of forty-four United States counties to have never voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate since its creation in 1878. In 1892, 1908, and 1916 it was the most Republican county in the nation. Leslie's fierce Unionist sympathies, so strong that areas surrounding it contributed more troops to the Union Army relative to population than any other part of the United States, meant that between 1896 and 1928 no Democrat could receive even ten percent of the county's vote, and none received so much as twenty-five percent until Lyndon Johnson flukishly managed over 47 percent in his landslide national triumph against Barry Goldwater in 1964. Despite Goldwater's relatively poor performance, every Republican candidate since the county's formation has obtained an absolute majority in Leslie County, and only William Howard Taft in the divided 1912 election, George Bush senior in 1992, and Bob Dole in 1996 have otherwise received under seventy percent for the GOP. Both Mitt Romney and Donald Trump received almost ninety percent of the vote in this county, making Leslie the strongest GOP county in Kentucky.
