[2] The county was established in 1889 and named for American frontiersman and Indian fighter Kit Carson.

[5] At the 2000 census there were 8,011 people, 2,990 households, and 2,081 families living in the county.

Like all the High Plains, Kit Carson County is powerfully Republican.

In other statewide elections, Kit Carson County also leans strongly Republican.

At a gubernatorial level, it has been won by Democrat Roy Romer in 1990[13] – when he carried all but four counties statewide – and by Constitution Party candidate Tom Tancredo in 2010.