Politics in Balaton, MN are a small but important part of the town's culture. At the local level, Balaton is overseen by a three-member City Council that meets monthly to discuss and vote on issues affecting the community. City Council members are elected to four-year terms and serve staggered terms without pay. The Mayor of Balaton is elected every two years in a competitive race among candidates who represent different political views and backgrounds. In addition to municipal elections, voters in Balaton can participate in state and national elections as well. While the town does not have any local political parties or organizations, residents stay engaged with politics and often have lively conversations about current events and issues facing the country.
The political climate in Balaton, MN is moderately conservative.
Lyon County, MN is strongly conservative. In Lyon County, MN 35.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 61.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Lyon county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 61.9% to 35.9%.
Lyon county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Balaton, MN is moderately conservative.
Lyon County, Minnesota is strongly conservative.
Marshall Metro Area is strongly conservative.
Minnesota 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.
Balaton, Minnesota: R R r r 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 Balaton, MN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 0 contributions totaling $0 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $0 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 11 contributions totaling $325 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $30 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)