Bristol, TN has a long-standing tradition of engaging in political discourse and activity. The city is served by a mayor-council form of government that consists of seven council members and one mayor. The mayor is elected to serve for two years while the council members are elected for four year terms. Each year, local elections are conducted to determine the individuals who will serve as representatives for their respective districts. Political issues that often come up in Bristol include economic development, education, public safety, and infrastructure improvements. Throughout the year, citizens have the opportunity to attend town hall meetings or other public forums to discuss these topics with their elected officials. Additionally, candidates running in local elections campaign heavily on these issues to ensure that they have the support of voters in their district. Bristol is an active and vibrant community that takes its politics seriously and makes sure its voice is heard at all levels.
The political climate in Bristol, TN is moderately conservative.
Sullivan County, TN is very conservative. In Sullivan County, TN 23.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 75.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Sullivan county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 75.1% to 23.2%.
Sullivan county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Bristol, TN is moderately conservative.
Sullivan County, Tennessee is very conservative.
Kingsport-Bristol Metro Area is very conservative.
Tennessee is moderately 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.
Bristol, Tennessee: 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 Bristol, TN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,220 contributions totaling $285,081 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $128 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,090 contributions totaling $1,367,932 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $655 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)