The politics in Roanoke, VA are heavily impacted by the state and local elections that take place every 2 years. In recent years, some of the most important issues to the people of Roanoke have been public transportation, affordable healthcare, and economic development. During election cycles, candidates for office often focus on these topics as they work to win votes from citizens. At the local level, voters elect a mayor who presides over City Council meetings and a number of board members to help manage the city’s activities such as budgeting and public works projects. Candidates also campaign for positions on school boards and other government-related positions. All of this is done in an effort to ensure that citizens have access to quality services while ensuring that taxes remain low and manageable.
The political climate in Roanoke, VA is moderately liberal.
Roanoke City County, VA is strongly liberal. In Roanoke City County, VA 61.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 36.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Roanoke city county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 61.8% to 36.0%.
Roanoke city county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Roanoke, VA is moderately liberal.
Roanoke City County, Virginia is strongly liberal.
Roanoke Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
Virginia is somewhat 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.
Roanoke, Virginia: 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 Roanoke, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 7,897 contributions totaling $813,495 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $103 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,412 contributions totaling $2,527,867 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,048 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)