Forest, VA is a small city located in the state of Virginia. Although it has a relatively small population of just over 10,000 people, it is an important part of the local political landscape. The city is governed by a mayor and five members of the city council who are elected to their positions every four years. In addition to these elected officials, Forest also has representation on the county and state levels. The county supervisor and state representatives all advocate for their constituents in Forest and work hard to ensure that their voices are heard in Richmond. Residents of Forest have an important say when it comes to the political climate of their city and rely heavily on their elected officials to help them make informed decisions about issues that affect them.
The political climate in Forest, VA is strongly conservative.
Bedford County, VA is very conservative. In Bedford County, VA 25.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 73.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Bedford county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 73.1% to 25.0%.
Bedford county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Forest, VA is strongly conservative.
Bedford County, Virginia is very conservative.
Lynchburg Metro Area is strongly conservative.
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.
Forest, Virginia: 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 Forest, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,729 contributions totaling $292,383 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $107 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,408 contributions totaling $288,966 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $205 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)