The Ellensburg, WA Metro Area has a long and colorful history of political involvement. At the local level, there is a strong tradition of grassroots organizing and an active community of citizens who are passionate about their involvement in politics. The Ellensburg City Council is composed of five members and there are also various types of committees and commissions that work on specific issues related to the city. Additionally, the county commissioners meet regularly to discuss issues relevant to all county residents.
At the state level, Washington State hosts two senators in the U.S. Senate, representing both sides of the aisle in Congress. There are several state representatives that serve specific districts within the Ellensburg area as well as the rest of Kittitas County. These representatives are responsible for bringing local issues to the attention of their fellow legislators in Olympia and advocating for solutions on behalf of their district’s constituents.
As part of its commitment to civic engagement, Ellensburg also has a vibrant local media presence with multiple newspapers and radio stations that cover important local topics including education, business, government, health care, and more. This allows citizens to stay informed and engaged in local politics while staying connected with current events happening around them.
The political climate in Ellensburg Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
In Ellensburg Metro Area 43.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 53.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Ellensburg metro area remained strongly Republican, 53.5% to 43.3%.
The Ellensburg metro area voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Ellensburg Metro Area is somewhat 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.
Ellensburg, Washington: 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 Ellensburg Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,981 contributions totaling $295,034 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $99 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 810 contributions totaling $190,225 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $235 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)