[4] At the time of its creation, Mingo County was divided into magisterial districts, which the United States Census Bureau classifies as a type of non-functional subdivision serving purely administrative purposes.

[5] After West Virginia's establishment in 1863, its counties were initially divided into civil townships, with the intent to encourage local government.

This proved impractical in the heavily rural state, and in 1872 the townships were converted into magisterial districts.

[6] Mingo County's five original districts were Hardee, Harvey, Lee, Magnolia, and Stafford.

As West Virginia's only county established after 1871, Mingo is unique in never having been divided into townships, but Hardee, Lee, and Magnolia districts were formerly districts in Logan County, and Hardee and Magnolia were townships until 1872.

[5] Mingo County was redistricted in 2005, at which time Hardee and Tug River Districts were consolidated to form Tug Hardee, and Harvey and Kermit were consolidated to form Kermit Harvey.

Politically, Mingo County strongly opposed former President Barack Obama.

In 2008, Obama received only 8% of the vote in the Democratic primary, one of his worst performances nationwide.

In 2012, Keith Russell Judd, a convicted felon who was the only other candidate on the ballot, received more Mingo County primary votes than Obama.

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 26,839 people, 11,125 households, and 7,707 families living in the county.

In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden lost the county by more than 70 percentage points to Republican Donald Trump despite winning the presidential election.

In the 2018 U.S. Senate election, Democrat Joe Manchin lost Mingo County despite winning statewide.