Hernando County, Florida is a county located in the state's Nature Coast region. Political activity in the county is largely driven by local concerns and issues, with the Republican Party holding a majority of elected offices. The county has 3 members in the Florida House of Representatives and 1 member in the Florida Senate, all of whom are Republicans. Local elections for County Commission and School Board races are nonpartisan. Hernando County has traditionally voted Republican in statewide elections, with President Donald Trump carrying the county by a large margin in 2016. In recent years, there has been an increase in public involvement in local politics as residents become more engaged with political issues that affect their lives. As a result, several new candidates have been elected to public office from both major political parties. Residents of Hernando County can expect to see ongoing political debates and elections as they work to shape their community into one that best meets their needs.
The political climate in Hernando County, FL is strongly conservative.
In Hernando County, FL 34.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 64.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Hernando county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 64.5% to 34.4%.
Hernando county voted Republican in the last five Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Hernando County, FL is strongly conservative.
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.
Hernando, Florida: d 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 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 Hernando County, FL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,197 contributions totaling $196,024 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $61 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,895 contributions totaling $286,599 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $151 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)