Cortland County is a bellwether county, having voted for the national winner in every presidential election from 1976 to 2016. It did not vote for the national winner, Joseph R. Biden, in 2020. The city of Cortland itself, the largest city in the county, leans Democratic. In 2000, Al Gore lost Cortland County by only about one percent. In 2004, George Bush defeated John Kerry by five points. In 2008, Barack Obama defeated John McCain 54-45%, and in 2012 he defeated Mitt Romney by a similar margin. Bill Clinton carried it with a plurality in 1992 and 1996. The last Democrat to win a majority in Cortland County prior to Obama was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.