Hillsborough County, located in the heart of Florida, is a bustling hub of activity and has an active political landscape. The county is home to two congressional districts, both represented in the United States Congress by Democrats. Hillsborough County is also part of the Florida State Senate and House of Representatives, with seven state senate districts and twenty-two house districts currently represented by both Republican and Democratic officials. In addition to congressional representation, Hillsborough County also elects its own Board of Commissioners that controls local governance and legislation. The board includes seven members from each of the five commission districts within Hillsborough County. Local elections are held every four years to determine the board's composition, which then shape public policy decisions on issues ranging from school funding to public works projects.
The political climate in Hillsborough County, FL is leaning liberal.
In Hillsborough County, FL 52.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 45.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Hillsborough county remained moderately Democratic, 52.7% to 45.8%.
Hillsborough county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Hillsborough County, FL is leaning liberal.
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Florida is leaning 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.
Hillsborough, Florida: 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 for the Democrat and I for the Independent. 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 Hillsborough County, FL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 50,349 contributions totaling $6,447,847 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $128 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 15,090 contributions totaling $11,722,163 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $777 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)