Cowlitz County, Washington is home to a vibrant politics scene. The county is governed by a three-member Board of Commissioners who are responsible for setting the direction and policy on a wide range of initiatives. The current board members include Joe Gardner, Kathleen Schmalz, and Michael Karnofski. Additionally, the county has elected representatives in both the Washington State House of Representatives and Senate. The County has also seen an increase in political activism in recent years with many local protests and advocacy groups advocating for various issues ranging from economic justice to environmental protection. Furthermore, Cowlitz County participates in each year’s election cycle with a number of candidates running for local offices such as school board positions, city council seats, and county commissioner posts. Regardless of your political views or affiliations, Cowlitz County provides an active platform for citizens to engage in productive dialogue about the issues that matter to them most.
The political climate in Cowlitz County, WA is moderately conservative.
In Cowlitz County, WA 39.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 57.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Cowlitz county remained very strongly Republican, 57.1% to 39.7%.
Cowlitz county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Cowlitz County, WA is moderately conservative.
Longview Metro Area is moderately conservative.
Washington is moderately 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.
Cowlitz, Washington: d d D d 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 Cowlitz County, WA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,544 contributions totaling $237,690 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $67 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,322 contributions totaling $241,573 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $183 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)