Champaign, IL is a vibrant and diverse city located in east-central Illinois. The city is known for its cultural attractions, such as the Krannert Art Museum, Orpheum Children's Science Museum, and Champaign County History Museum. Politically, Champaign has seen many changes over the years. It is currently part of Illinois' 15th Congressional District and is represented by Congressman John Shimkus in the US House of Representatives. In the state legislature, Champaign is split between two Senate Districts: Champaign-Urbana (SD 52) and Coles-Cumberland (SD 51). The local state legislators representing Champaign are Senator Scott Bennett and Representative Carol Ammons. Additionally, at the local level, Champaign has an elected mayor and City Council that work to ensure that residents’ needs are being met.
The political climate in Champaign, IL is moderately liberal.
Champaign County, IL is moderately liberal. In Champaign County, IL 59.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 36.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Champaign county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 59.7% to 36.9%.
Champaign county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Champaign, IL is moderately liberal.
Champaign County, Illinois is moderately liberal.
Champaign-Urbana Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Illinois 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.
Champaign, Illinois: 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 Champaign, IL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 12,779 contributions totaling $1,098,362 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $86 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,365 contributions totaling $836,008 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $612 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)