Watertown, MN is a small city located in Carver County in the state of Minnesota. It is home to many diverse individuals and small businesses, and has a rich history of community involvement. Politically speaking, Watertown is included in the Republican-leaning 2nd congressional district of Minnesota. At the local level, many residents participate actively in local politics by voting in elections for representatives at both the county and state levels. As a result, local political races are often more competitive than races on a larger scale. The current mayor of Watertown is Gary Gahm, who was elected in 2019 and serves as a strong advocate for the town's citizens. Additionally, Watertown City Council meetings are open to residents so they can stay informed about major decisions being made that affect their community. Overall, politics play an important role in keeping Watertown vibrant and engaged with its citizens now and into the future.
The political climate in Watertown, MN is somewhat conservative.
Carver County, MN is leaning conservative. In Carver County, MN 46.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 51.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Carver county remained Republican, 51.2% to 46.4%.
Carver county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Watertown, MN is somewhat conservative.
Carver County, Minnesota is leaning conservative.
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Minnesota is leaning 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.
Watertown, Minnesota: R R R 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 Watertown, MN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 25 contributions totaling $5,325 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $213 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 56 contributions totaling $4,725 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $84 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)