[3] The county was named for the Cayuga people, one of the Native American tribes in the Iroquois Confederation.

In 1784, following the peace treaty that ended the American Revolutionary War, the name of Tryon County was changed to Montgomery County in honor of the general, Richard Montgomery, who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of Quebec, replacing the name of the hated British governor.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, this region attracted European immigrants who developed farms or took over existing ones, particularly from Italy and Poland.

[4] Cayuga County is located in the west central part of the state, in the Finger Lakes region.

16.3% were of Irish, 16.0% English, 15.7% Italian, 11.3% German, 9.5% American and 6.3% Polish ancestry according to Census 2000.

[14] The Ukrainian-American population in Cayuga County is heavily concentrated in the Auburn area.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore won Cayuga County with 50% of the vote to George W. Bush's 44%.

In 2012, Obama won the county again by a slightly larger margin over Republican Mitt Romney.

Biden became the first Democrat to win the presidency without carrying Cayuga County since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

In statewide elections it has gone for Democrats: both Eliot Spitzer and Hillary Clinton won it in 2006 with more than 60% of the vote.

In 2010, Democrat Andrew Cuomo defeated Republican Carl Paladino 53% to 40% for the governorship, with 3% going to Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins.

Senators, Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, carried Cayuga County.

The Cayuga County Legislature consists of 15 members, each of whom are elected from single-member districts.