Hartford is the capital city of Connecticut and a major political center for the state. It has a vibrant political culture, with citizens participating in local and national elections. The city has featured in many significant recent political events, such as hosting the Democratic National Convention and being the backdrop for debates between presidential candidates. Local politics in Hartford are dominated by Democrats, who hold a majority of seats on both the City Council and Board of Education. The Mayor of Hartford is Luke Bronin, who was elected in 2015 and is currently serving his second term. In addition to the Mayor, other important local politicians include Council President Thomas Clarke, Deputy Mayor John Gale and City Treasurer Adam Cloud. The City Council meets regularly to discuss public policy issues, while various committees meet regularly to address areas such as education, development and transportation. There are numerous smaller special interest groups that advocate for their causes within the city as well. Ultimately, Hartford residents are engaged in local politics and strive to see their vision come to fruition through elected representatives that share their values and goals.
The political climate in Hartford, CT is strongly liberal.
Hartford County, CT is strongly liberal. In Hartford County, CT 63.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 35.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Hartford county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 63.1% to 35.4%.
Hartford county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Hartford, CT is strongly liberal.
Hartford County, Connecticut is strongly liberal.
Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Connecticut is moderately liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Hartford, Connecticut: D D D D D D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Hartford, CT
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 14,713 contributions totaling $1,973,624 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $134 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,005 contributions totaling $315,252 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $314 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)