Asheville, North Carolina is a small city located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. It is known for its vibrant arts and music scene, as well as its close proximity to the nearby Appalachian Trail. While Asheville has many attractions, it also has a strong political presence in local government. Members of City Council are elected from districts throughout the city, and the mayor serves as an at-large member of the council, presiding over all voting meetings. The Mayor of Asheville is responsible for setting forth policy initiatives that are adopted by the City Council. In addition to the Mayor's Office, Asheville residents have access to numerous legislative representatives and senators who serve in both state and federal offices. Each representative works hard to ensure that their constituents’ needs are met while providing support towards initiatives that improve life in Asheville.
The political climate in Asheville, NC is somewhat liberal.
Buncombe County, NC is moderately liberal. In Buncombe County, NC 59.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 38.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Buncombe county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 59.7% to 38.6%.
Buncombe county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Asheville, NC is somewhat liberal.
Buncombe County, North Carolina is moderately liberal.
Asheville Metro Area is leaning liberal.
North Carolina is leaning conservative.
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.
Asheville, North Carolina: r r 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 Asheville, NC
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 27,752 contributions totaling $2,369,837 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $85 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,714 contributions totaling $756,741 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $279 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)