Bessemer, Michigan is a small town located in the western Upper Peninsula of the state. It is home to approximately 2,200 residents and has a unique political landscape. Being in such a rural area, Bessemer does not have any locally elected officials but instead is governed by elected officials from other parts of Gogebic County. The town’s political environment is largely influenced by larger cities in the county such as Ironwood and Wakefield. Bessemer has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold, with the majority of local representatives voting for that party at the state and federal levels. While there are no local candidates running for office, there are several national politicians who have visited or campaigned in Bessemer throughout history.
The political climate in Bessemer, MI is somewhat conservative.
Gogebic County, MI is somewhat conservative. In Gogebic County, MI 43.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 55.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Gogebic county remained strongly Republican, 55.6% to 43.1%.
Gogebic county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Bessemer, MI is somewhat conservative.
Gogebic County, Michigan is somewhat conservative.
Michigan is leaning 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.
Bessemer, Michigan: 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 Bessemer, MI
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 197 contributions totaling $3,430 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $17 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 14 contributions totaling $980 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $70 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)