Harrisburg, PA has a vibrant history of politics. Located in Dauphin County, the state capital is home to several important political figures. Harrisburg's government includes a mayor and city council, as well as representatives in both the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate. The current mayor is Eric Papenfuse, who has held office since 2014. In 2020, voters reelected him to a second four-year term. The city council consists of eight members: three Republicans, four Democrats and one independent member. Each year, residents of Harrisburg can vote for their representatives in the Pennsylvania General Assembly or Senate and contribute to the decision-making process that shapes the city’s future. At both the local and state level, Harrisburg residents can take part in their government’s decisions by voting for candidates who share their priorities and values.
The political climate in Harrisburg, PA is moderately liberal.
Dauphin County, PA is somewhat liberal. In Dauphin County, PA 53.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 44.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Dauphin county remained moderately Democratic, 53.4% to 44.9%.
Dauphin county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Harrisburg, PA is moderately liberal.
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania is somewhat liberal.
Harrisburg-Carlisle Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Pennsylvania 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.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: r 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 Harrisburg, PA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 7,841 contributions totaling $10,979,317 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $1,400 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,004 contributions totaling $364,410 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $363 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)