West Plains, MO is a small rural city located in south-central Missouri. The city has an active local politics and government, with several elected positions held by local citizens. The mayor and the city council hold the positions of mayor and aldermen respectively. These officials are responsible for setting policy, managing budgets, and providing services to the citizens of West Plains. Other political offices include police chief, superintendent of utilities, and other administrators. Every two years, a municipal election is held for all positions in the mayor's office and the city council. Local political candidates have included long-time residents as well as newcomers who have moved into town within the last few years. All candidates must abide by state laws regulating elections and campaigning rules to ensure fair and just representation in local government.
The political climate in West Plains, MO is moderately conservative.
Howell County, MO is very conservative. In Howell County, MO 17.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 81.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Howell county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 81.3% to 17.2%.
Howell county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
West Plains, MO is moderately conservative.
Howell County, Missouri is very conservative.
West Plains Metro Area is very conservative.
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.
West Plains, Missouri: R R R R R R
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 West Plains, MO
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,784 contributions totaling $194,160 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $109 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 478 contributions totaling $114,538 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $240 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)