The politics in the Missoula, MT Metro Area are influenced by its population of over 113,000 people across two counties. The area is represented at the federal level by Montana's 1st congressional district which is currently held by Republican congressman Greg Gianforte. At the state level, Missoula is represented by two senators and seven House members in the Montana legislature. Locally, Missoula County has a five-member Board of County Commissioners and a mayor who is elected city-wide. The city council consists of twelve members who are elected to represent six districts within the city limits and serve four year terms. Issues facing residents include infrastructure improvements, public safety initiatives, economic development and environmental protection.
The political climate in Missoula Metro Area is strongly liberal.
In Missoula Metro Area 60.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 36.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Missoula metro area remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 60.6% to 36.8%.
The Missoula metro area voted Democratic in the last five Presidential elections, after voting Republican in 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Missoula Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Montana is moderately 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.
Missoula, Montana: r d 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Missoula Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 25,100 contributions totaling $2,864,975 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $114 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,657 contributions totaling $884,527 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $534 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)