Grand Rapids, MI is a city with a deep political history. It has been home to several prominent politicians over the years, including former mayor George Heartwell and US Representative Justin Amash. The city is currently governed by the Grand Rapids City Commission which consists of seven district-elected commissioners and a directly elected mayor. In addition to local government, Grand Rapids residents are represented in Congress by two U.S. House representatives and one U.S senate member: U.S Representative Bill Huizenga, U.S Representative Fred Upton, and Senator Gary Peters respectively. There are also many state and county offices that serve the citizens of the city as well as numerous policy advisory boards and commissions responsible for issues ranging from economic development to education reform to public safety. Grand Rapids residents have an active role in their government, engaging with their representatives through town halls or other public forums to voice their opinions on various issues and policies affecting their community.
The political climate in Grand Rapids, MI is somewhat liberal.
Kent County, MI is leaning liberal. In Kent County, MI 51.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 45.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kent county flipped moderately Democratic, 51.9% to 45.8%.
Kent county flipped Democratic in 2020, after voting Republican in four of the last six Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Grand Rapids, MI is somewhat liberal.
Kent County, Michigan is leaning liberal.
Grand Rapids-Kentwood Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Michigan 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.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: R R d r 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 Grand Rapids, MI
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 17,812 contributions totaling $1,860,772 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $104 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 4,526 contributions totaling $16,291,265 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $3,599 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)