Durham, NC is a vibrant city with a rich political landscape. Home to the Duke University and renowned for its vibrant culture, Durham has an active local political presence. The Democratic Party controls the majority of county government offices including the Board of County Commissioners and the Council of Commissioners. Local elections regularly see competitive races between Democrats and Republicans, as well as other third-party candidates. Durham also prides itself on a wide variety of community initiatives that are resourceful in tackling issues like poverty, crime and access to healthcare. These efforts are often spearheaded by local politicians who understand the importance of making sure that all citizens have fair representation in their government. With passionate citizens and committed politicians, Durham will continue to be an example of effective local politics in years to come.
The political climate in Durham, NC is strongly liberal.
Durham County, NC is very liberal. In Durham County, NC 80.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 18.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Durham county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 80.4% to 18.0%.
Durham county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Durham, NC is strongly liberal.
Durham County, North Carolina is very liberal.
Durham-Chapel Hill Metro Area is very liberal.
North Carolina is leaning conservative.
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.
Durham, North Carolina: D D D D D 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 Durham, NC
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 92,237 contributions totaling $13,827,787 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $150 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 7,972 contributions totaling $3,872,959 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $486 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)