 Owing to the considerable voting power of its large number of freedmen following the Civil War, and later its growth as a suburban area, Charles County was for a long time solidly Republican.The only Democrat to carry Charles County until 1956 was Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, although Alf Landon and Wendell Willkie defeated Roosevelt in the next two elections by a combined margin of just 50 votes.Since the turn of the millennium, Charles County has become reliably Democratic, although not as overwhelmingly so as other parts of Maryland's Washington, D.C. suburbs.