Chesapeake, Virginia is a vibrant and diverse community located in the Hampton Roads area. Politics in Chesapeake are dynamic and complex, with many local politicians representing their constituents’ interests in various ways. From the city council to state representatives, people in Chesapeake have a variety of elected officials working on their behalf. At the local level, citizens elect eight City Council Members, all of whom serve four-year terms. The City Council meets monthly to discuss matters related to Chesapeake’s budget, safety initiatives, and other important topics. At the state level, there are 10 members of the Virginia General Assembly who represent Chesapeake and its residents. These representatives tackle issues such as education funding, renewable energy goals, tax reform measures, and healthcare access. No matter what the issue may be for residents of Chesapeake, they have elected officials available to help them navigate the political landscape and push for meaningful change for their community.
The political climate in Chesapeake, VA is leaning liberal.
Chesapeake City County, VA is leaning liberal. In Chesapeake City County, VA 52.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 45.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Chesapeake city county flipped moderately Democratic, 52.2% to 45.8%.
Chesapeake city county flipped Democratic in the most recent Presidential election (2000, 2004 and 2016 went Republican).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Chesapeake, VA is leaning liberal.
Chesapeake City County, Virginia is leaning liberal.
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Virginia is somewhat 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.
Chesapeake, Virginia: r R d d r 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 Chesapeake, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,468 contributions totaling $264,232 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $76 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,740 contributions totaling $443,035 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $255 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)