Ottawa, IL is a small city located in LaSalle County, Illinois. It has a rich history dating back to 1834 when it was first settled by settlers from Canada. The town is currently governed by an elected Mayor and City Council. The Mayor serves a four-year term and the City Council consists of nine members who are elected to serve two-year terms. The current mayor is Robert Eschbach, who was re-elected in 2020 after serving two consecutive terms in office.
The current City Council Members are Chuck Budreau (Ward 1), Don Bauch (Ward 2), John Amling Jr (Ward 3), Mark Thompson (Ward 4), Josh Dunnigan (Ward 5), Greg Wilson (Ward 6), Amy Hoskins (Ward 7) and Joe Monken (Ward 8). Each council member represents their respective ward's interests and strives to make Ottawa a better place for its citizens. Federal elections are held every two years and residents can vote at the local polling places for their district representatives at the House of Representatives or United States Senate levels. Through their representation, Ottawa's citizens have access to numerous resources such as housing assistance, medical coverage, educational aid programs, environmental protection legislation, infrastructure improvements and more.
The political climate in Ottawa, IL is somewhat conservative.
LaSalle County, IL is somewhat conservative. In LaSalle County, IL 41.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 56.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, LaSalle county remained strongly Republican, 56.1% to 41.8%.
LaSalle county voted Republican in 2020, 2016, 2012 and 2004, and Democratic in 2008 and 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Ottawa, IL is somewhat conservative.
LaSalle County, Illinois is somewhat conservative.
Illinois 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.
Ottawa, Illinois: d r D 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 Ottawa, IL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,869 contributions totaling $366,769 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $95 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 961 contributions totaling $237,014 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $247 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)