Townsend, MA is a rural town in Middlesex County with a population of around 14,000 people. Although Townsend is a small town, it is active in its local politics. At the top level of government, Townsend residents are represented by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative James McGovern who both work closely with the community to advocate for their interests. Lower levels of government are represented by Town Meeting members who are elected every two years. The Town Meeting acts as a legislative body and functions under the Open Town Meeting form of government. Each member has an equal vote and works to discuss and pass laws on issues such as public safety, education, taxes, zoning regulations, and other public services. Through their representatives in Washington and locally elected officials, Townsend residents have an active presence in the political process that shapes their community.
The political climate in Townsend, MA is somewhat liberal.
Middlesex County, MA is very liberal. In Middlesex County, MA 71.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 26.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Middlesex county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 71.5% to 26.3%.
Middlesex county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Townsend, MA is somewhat liberal.
Middlesex County, Massachusetts is very liberal.
Boston-Cambridge-Newton Metro Area is very liberal.
Massachusetts is very 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.
Townsend, Massachusetts: D D D D D D
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 Townsend, MA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,016 contributions totaling $30,987 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $31 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 39 contributions totaling $18,952 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $486 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)