Columbia, MO is located in Boone County and is the home to the University of Missouri. The city has a strong political history, with its citizens actively engaging in local politics. Columbia has five wards that each have their own representatives on the City Council, elected by citizens of the ward. They are responsible for setting policies related to public safety, community development, zoning regulations, and other issues. Additionally, Columbia also elects a mayor every four years who serves as the head of City government. Every election cycle brings new opportunities for residents to become involved through volunteering or running for office themselves. This active engagement with local politics is integral to keeping Columbians informed and shaping their community for the better.
The political climate in Columbia, MO is somewhat liberal.
Boone County, MO is somewhat liberal. In Boone County, MO 54.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 42.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Boone county remained strongly Democratic, 54.8% to 42.3%.
Boone county voted Democratic in five of the last six Presidential elections (2004 went Republican).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Columbia, MO is somewhat liberal.
Boone County, Missouri is somewhat liberal.
Columbia Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Missouri is somewhat 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.
Columbia, Missouri: d 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 Columbia, MO
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 70,415 contributions totaling $8,739,354 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $124 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 7,599 contributions totaling $4,025,408 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $530 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)