this changed in 1964, with the anti-yankee feeling and southern leanings of barry goldwater. this led to douglas county voting for lyndon b. johnson, making johnson the first democrat ever to win the county. with more moderate gop candidates, the gop carried the county in every election between 1968 and 1988. however, the growing transformation of lawrence into a liberal academic town pulled the county into the democratic column from 1992 onwards. this was similar to many counties around the united states with college towns. since the 2004 election, douglas county has been one of the strongest democratic places in kansas, second only to wyandotte county. often, douglas and wyandotte are the only two counties in the state to vote for democratic presidential candidates.