The town of Benton, Maine is a small rural community with a population of just under 1,500 people. The politics in Benton are centered around the Town Council, which is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the town. The council is composed of five members elected by the citizens of Benton at the annual Town Meeting. These five members then elect one council member to serve as chairperson and another to serve as vice-chairperson. Issues brought before the Town Council range from approving and enacting local ordinances to setting tax rates. The primary focus for Benton’s political leaders is on maintaining high quality town services while keeping local taxes low. Over the past few years, there has been a strong emphasis on economic development in order to attract new businesses and further diversify Benton’s economy. In addition to these endeavors, citizens take an active role in local government by voicing concerns during public meetings and voting in elections for state and federal offices.
The political climate in Benton, ME is somewhat conservative.
Kennebec County, ME is leaning liberal. In Kennebec County, ME 48.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 48.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kennebec county flipped narrowly Democratic, 48.6% to 48.3%.
Kennebec county flipped back to Democratic in the most recent Presidential election, after voting Republican in 2016.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Benton, ME is somewhat conservative.
Kennebec County, Maine is leaning liberal.
Augusta-Waterville Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Maine 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.
Benton, Maine: D d D D r 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 Benton, ME
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,400 contributions totaling $64,038 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $46 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 133 contributions totaling $81,960 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $616 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)