Houlton, Maine is a small town located in Aroostook County in the northeastern tip of the state. It has a population of approximately 6,000 and is known for its vast outdoor recreation opportunities, its famous potato industry, and its close-knit community feel. On the political front, Houlton’s citizens are generally conservative in their views. The town is represented by Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R) in the US House of Representatives and Sen. Susan Collins (R) as the US Senator for Maine. Locally, residents vote on a variety of issues including taxes, budgeting, development plans, and school boards. Municipal elections are held every two years in which candidates from both major parties run for office to represent the constituents of Houlton.
The political climate in Houlton, ME is somewhat conservative.
Aroostook County, ME is moderately conservative. In Aroostook County, ME 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, Aroostook county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 59.1% to 39.0%.
Aroostook county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Houlton, ME is somewhat conservative.
Aroostook 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.
Houlton, Maine: d d 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 Houlton, ME
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 252 contributions totaling $7,190 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $29 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 46 contributions totaling $5,060 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $110 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)