Portland, Oregon is a vibrant city with rich history and culture. Politically, the city has long been known for its progressive values, electing leaders with strong ideals in social justice and environmental protection. Local elections often feature hotly contested races between candidates from across the political spectrum, seeking to represent the diverse voices of Portland's population. The current mayor is Ted Wheeler, who was first elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. With a record of addressing issues such as homelessness, climate change, and racial equity during his tenure as mayor, Wheeler has become an influential voice on Portland's progressive politics. He has recently enacted policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions and combat housing insecurity throughout the city. In addition to Wheeler’s leadership team, Portland also has an active city council made up of seven members who take part in shaping the local government’s policy decisions. These council members are responsible for representing their constituents in matters ranging from health care to transportation infrastructure.
The political climate in Portland, OR is strongly liberal.
Multnomah County, OR is very liberal. In Multnomah County, OR 79.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 17.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Multnomah county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 79.2% to 17.9%.
Multnomah county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Portland, OR is strongly liberal.
Multnomah 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.
Portland, 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 Portland, OR
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 255,960 contributions totaling $26,517,426 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $104 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 15,816 contributions totaling $5,250,652 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $332 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)