Opelika, AL is a city located in Lee County, Alabama. It has a strong presence of local politics, and many officials have been elected to represent the community's interests at all levels of government. The current mayor is Gary Fuller, who was first elected in 2016. Opelika also has a five-member City Council, which is responsible for approving laws and decisions related to the city’s finances and operations. The City Council consists of Trey Glennon (President), Eddie Smith (Vice President), Frank Goodman, Allen Baker Jr., and Pat Evans. In addition to the mayor and City Council members, Opelika also has two representatives in the Alabama House of Representatives: Mike Holmes from District 82 and Chris Blackshear from District 83. All of these political leaders are dedicated to representing the people of Opelika by advocating for policies that will improve their quality of life both now and in the future.
The political climate in Opelika, AL is leaning conservative.
Lee County, AL is moderately conservative. In Lee County, AL 39.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 59.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Lee county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 59.1% to 39.0%.
Lee county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Opelika, AL is leaning conservative.
Lee County, Alabama is moderately conservative.
Auburn-Opelika Metro Area is moderately conservative.
Alabama is strongly 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.
Opelika, Alabama: 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 if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. 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 Opelika, AL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,249 contributions totaling $292,544 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $90 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,235 contributions totaling $359,702 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $291 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)