The Topeka Metro Area is an area of intense political activity. On the local level, Topeka has a mayor-council government in which the mayor is directly elected by voters. The nine city council members are elected from seven wards. Elections for city offices occur every four years and are open to all qualified citizens of Topeka. At the state level, Topeka is represented in both houses of the Kansas State Legislature with two representatives and one senator. Currently, the majority of politicians representing the Topeka Metro Area at the state level are Republicans, but there is a small number of Democrats as well. The national government also impacts politics in Topeka through federal funding and policies that reach our area. Every four years, citizens come together to elect candidates for president who have different views on how to best represent their interests at the national level.
The political climate in Topeka Metro Area is leaning conservative.
In Topeka Metro Area 45.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 52.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Topeka metro area remained moderately Republican, 52.1% to 45.0%.
The Topeka metro area voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Topeka Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Kansas is somewhat 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.
Topeka, Kansas: 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 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Topeka Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 8,322 contributions totaling $650,552 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $78 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,532 contributions totaling $748,957 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $296 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)