Rockford, MI is a small city located in Kent County that has seen significant growth over the past few years. It is home to around 8,300 residents and is known for its quaint downtown area of shops and restaurants. The city is governed by a mayor-council form of government, with the Mayor being elected by local residents every four years. The City Council consists of five members who are also elected locally. The current mayor is Mark Sorensen, who was elected in 2016. He is joined on the council by Wil Shettler, John Enders, Chris Boonstra, and Tom Albertson. Rockford has been able to maintain a low crime rate and provide quality services for its citizens through careful fiscal management. This includes maintaining a balanced budget year after year as well as encouraging business growth and development within the city limits. In addition to the Mayor and City Council, there are several other important positions filled by local political candidates such as school board members, county commissioners, state representatives, and senators. All of these positions help ensure that Rockford continues to be an excellent place to live and work for its residents.
The political climate in Rockford, MI is leaning conservative.
Kent County, MI is leaning liberal. In Kent County, MI 51.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 45.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kent county flipped moderately Democratic, 51.9% to 45.8%.
Kent county flipped Democratic in 2020, after voting Republican in four of the last six Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Rockford, MI is leaning conservative.
Kent County, Michigan is leaning liberal.
Grand Rapids-Kentwood Metro Area is leaning 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.
Rockford, Michigan: R R d r r 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 Rockford, MI
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 732 contributions totaling $75,136 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $103 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 232 contributions totaling $79,633 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $343 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)