Dawson, Minnesota is a small city located in Lac Qui Parle County. The town has a population of 1,206 according to the 2018 United States Census. Politically, the city has leaned toward the Democratic Party in recent elections and has supported Democratic candidates for local office. In 2020, retired police officer Mark Smith ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Dawson on the Democratic ticket. While his opponent, incumbent Republican Mayor Tom Anderson won re-election, the election was close and demonstrated that the citizens of Dawson are divided along party lines on many issues. With its small but passionate population of activists and political organizers, Dawson is sure to remain an interesting place in terms of both state and national politics.
The political climate in Dawson, MN is moderately conservative.
Lac qui Parle County, MN is strongly conservative. In Lac qui Parle County, MN 35.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 62.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Lac qui Parle county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 62.6% to 35.8%.
Lac qui Parle county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Dawson, MN is moderately conservative.
Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota 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.
Dawson, Minnesota: 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 Dawson, 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 21 contributions totaling $1,325 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $63 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)