Rochester, Iowa is a small, rural community located in Lee County. Despite its size, the city has a long and rich history of political action and involvement. The city is home to many local organizations that strive to make positive changes in the community and improve the quality of life for all citizens. Locally, the government is led by an elected mayor as well as a city council made up of four members from each ward. At the state level, Rochester is part of Iowa's district 34 which sends representatives to both the Iowa House of Representatives and the Iowa Senate. Events such as candidate forums are held regularly for citizens to become more informed about local issues and learn more about their representatives. In addition to these events, there are several organizations dedicated to promoting responsible citizenship through education and civic engagement opportunities. Overall, politics in Rochester are vibrant and active with residents actively participating in their local government.
The political climate in Rochester, IA is moderately conservative.
Cedar County, IA is moderately conservative. In Cedar County, IA 40.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 57.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Cedar county remained very strongly Republican, 57.6% to 40.5%.
Cedar county voted Republican in 2020, 2016 and 2004, and Democratic in 2012, 2008 and 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Rochester, IA is moderately conservative.
Cedar County, Iowa is moderately conservative.
Iowa is leaning 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.
Rochester, Iowa: d r d d 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 Rochester, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 191 contributions totaling $12,705 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $67 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 97 contributions totaling $17,662 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $182 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)