The politics in Decatur, IL are an important part of the city's landscape. Decatur is a vibrant and diverse community, with a strong commitment to democratic values and principles. The city is represented by three members of the Illinois House of Representatives in the General Assembly: Rep. Sue Scherer (D-Decatur), Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Raymond) and Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville). All three representatives are active in their communities, working to ensure that Decatur has a voice in state legislation as well as responding to local issues like economic development, infrastructure improvement, education reform and public safety initiatives. Decatur residents also have access to a variety of local political events throughout the year such as candidate forums and debates where candidates can discuss their views on important issues facing the city.
The political climate in Decatur, IL is leaning conservative.
Macon County, IL is moderately conservative. In Macon County, IL 40.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 57.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Macon county remained very strongly Republican, 57.7% to 40.1%.
Macon county voted Republican in 2020, 2016, 2012 and 2004, and Democratic in 2008 and 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Decatur, IL is leaning conservative.
Macon County, Illinois is moderately conservative.
Decatur Metro Area is moderately conservative.
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.
Decatur, Illinois: d r d r R R
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 Decatur, IL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 5,680 contributions totaling $458,227 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $81 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 4,668 contributions totaling $1,165,197 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $250 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)