Raleigh, North Carolina is a vibrant city with a diverse and active political atmosphere. The current mayor of Raleigh is Mary-Ann Baldwin, who was elected in November 2019. Mayor Baldwin has been a strong advocate for the city’s growth and development, as well as citizen involvement in local politics. She has made it her mission to ensure that all citizens have access to better opportunities for education, job training, and economic growth. Additionally, she has worked hard to create safer neighborhoods by enhancing public safety initiatives such as increasing police presence and providing more resources to combat crime in the area. Additionally, Mayor Baldwin has created an Office of Diversity & Inclusion to promote greater understanding between different cultures within the city. In addition to Mayor Baldwin’s work in City Hall, there are also a variety of other local political leaders working on behalf of their constituents on issues such as affordable housing and transportation. With so many dedicated politicians working hard to improve the quality of life for Raleigh's citizens, it's clear that politics matter here in Raleigh!
The political climate in Raleigh, NC is moderately liberal.
Wake County, NC is strongly liberal. In Wake County, NC 62.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 35.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Wake county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 62.3% to 35.8%.
Wake county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Raleigh, NC is moderately liberal.
Wake County, North Carolina is strongly 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.
Raleigh, North Carolina: r r 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 Raleigh, NC
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 160,964 contributions totaling $19,689,872 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $122 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 27,703 contributions totaling $14,285,502 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $516 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)