Hillsboro, Oregon is a city with an estimated population of around 101,000 people. It is located in Washington County and is part of the Portland metropolitan area. As the fifth-largest city in Oregon, Hillsboro has a strong political landscape that influences local and state policies.
At the local level, Hillsboro is governed by a mayor-council system with seven council members who are elected to represent seven specific geographic districts within the city. Residents elect a mayor every four years, as well as vote for city charter amendments every two years or so. To help manage important areas such as public safety, finance, transportation planning and public works, the mayor appoints various city department heads.
Additionally, Hillsboro also has representatives in both the Oregon House of Representatives and Senate. These state legislators are tasked with creating legislation that will benefit their constituents and address issues ranging from education to taxation to healthcare. In addition to state representatives, residents can also look to their representative in Congress to keep abreast of federal policies that affect them directly. All of these entities work together to create an effective political system for Hillsboro that supports its growing population and thriving economy.
The political climate in Hillsboro, OR is moderately liberal.
Washington County, OR is very liberal. In Washington County, OR 65.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 30.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Washington county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 65.5% to 30.9%.
Washington county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Hillsboro, OR is moderately liberal.
Washington County, Oregon is very liberal.
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Oregon is moderately 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.
Hillsboro, Oregon: 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 Hillsboro, OR
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 48,863 contributions totaling $3,520,602 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $72 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 3,739 contributions totaling $742,315 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $199 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)