Watertown, NY is a small city located in the north of New York State. It is an important part of Jefferson County and has a long history in politics. In the city, politics is handled by the Watertown City Council, which consists of seven members who are elected from throughout the city. The council meets to discuss issues that affect the citizens of Watertown and to make decisions about local legislation that will benefit their constituents. They also appoint representatives to state and federal governments, such as choosing who should serve as Watertown's representative in Washington DC. Additionally, on election nights, the city holds elections for mayor and other municipal offices, giving its citizens the chance to choose their leaders directly. With a vibrant political climate, Watertown provides an exciting environment for those interested in getting involved with local government.
The political climate in Watertown, NY is leaning conservative.
Jefferson County, NY is moderately conservative. In Jefferson County, NY 39.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 58.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Jefferson county remained very strongly Republican, 58.4% to 39.5%.
Jefferson county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Watertown, NY is leaning conservative.
Jefferson County, New York is moderately conservative.
Watertown-Fort Drum Metro Area is moderately conservative.
New York 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.
Watertown, New York: 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, NY
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 499 contributions totaling $45,128 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $90 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 202 contributions totaling $72,047 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $357 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)