When Edwards County was formed in 1814, it comprised nearly half of the State of Illinois.

[5] As of the 2010 United States census, there were 6,721 people, 2,840 households, and 1,926 families residing in the county.

It has voted for the Republican candidate in all Presidential elections from 1856 to present, except in 1912 when the party was divided and Theodore Roosevelt won the county as the “Bull Moose” Progressive candidate.

[15] In the last five Presidential elections no Democratic candidate has reached 34 percent of the county's vote.

[16] Edwards County also holds the distinction of having the lowest percentage of any Illinois county of votes for governor Pat Quinn, a Democrat, in his failed 2014 reelection bid.

[17] Hillary Clinton fared even worse in 2016 with only 13.1 percent of the county's ballots.

The last Democratic Senatorial candidate it backed was Alan J. Dixon in 1986[19] and the last Democratic gubernatorial candidate it supported was Glenn Poshard, who carried all of Southern Illinois in his failed 1998 bid.

[20] Edwards County lies in Illinois's 15th congressional district, which has Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+21 and has been represented by Republican Mike Bost since 2023.