Columbia, ME is a small rural town in the northeastern United States with a population of approximately 1,750 people. It is mostly known as a tourist destination and for its strong agricultural roots. Politically, Columbia is part of Sagadahoc County and votes largely Democratic in their local elections. The town’s elected officials focus on issues that affect the whole county, like infrastructure development and job growth. They also prioritize protecting Columbia’s natural beauty and agricultural heritage. As such, they have enacted various initiatives to preserve the community’s beautiful landscape from overdevelopment while still allowing businesses to grow. With all these efforts in mind, it is clear that Columbia is passionate about maintaining an open dialogue between residents and their representatives in order to keep their community vibrant and healthy for many years to come.
The political climate in Columbia, ME is moderately conservative.
Washington County, ME is moderately conservative. In Washington County, ME 39.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 58.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Washington county remained very strongly Republican, 58.7% to 39.0%.
Washington county voted Republican in four of the six previous Presidential elections (2008 and 2012 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Columbia, ME is moderately conservative.
Washington County, Maine is moderately conservative.
Maine is somewhat 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.
Columbia, Maine: r 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 Columbia, ME
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 105 contributions totaling $10,058 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $96 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 31 contributions totaling $8,718 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $281 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)