Cortland, NY is a small town in the state of New York with a population of around 19,000 people. The local political scene is dominated by the Republican party, which holds most of the elected positions in the city. Cortland is represented at the state level by Senator James Seward and Assemblywoman Marcia Abromaitis. At the local level, residents are served by Mayor Brian Tobin and several members of the Cortland City Council. All elected officials strive to make decisions that are best for their constituents and have worked together to create a vibrant community for all its citizens.
The political climate in Cortland, NY is leaning liberal.
Cortland County, NY is leaning conservative. In Cortland County, NY 47.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 49.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Cortland county remained narrowly Republican, 49.8% to 47.8%.
Cortland county voted Republican in four of the six previous Presidential elections (2008 and 2012 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Cortland, NY is leaning liberal.
Cortland County, New York is leaning conservative.
Cortland Metro Area is leaning conservative.
New York is moderately 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.
Cortland, New York: r r 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 Cortland, NY
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 766 contributions totaling $44,754 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $58 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 133 contributions totaling $187,759 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,412 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)