Dayton, OH is the birthplace of aviation and home to many important historical figures. Politically, Dayton is a Democratic stronghold, with the Democratic party maintaining control in local elections for several decades. The city has elected Democrats to the mayoralty since 1981 and the current mayor, Nan Whaley, is a Democrat. In recent years, the city has become increasingly progressive with proposals such as universal pre-K and free college tuition for public school graduates being supported by both local politicians and citizens alike. Dayton's political landscape also includes representatives in state Senate and House of Representatives who are Democrats as well as members on their city council that represent both parties depending on the district. Overall, Dayton's politics remain strongly rooted in progressive values while offering diverse representation of all citizens regardless of their political beliefs.
The political climate in Dayton, OH is somewhat liberal.
Montgomery County, OH is leaning liberal. In Montgomery County, OH 50.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 47.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Montgomery county flipped narrowly Democratic, 50.2% to 47.9%.
Montgomery county flipped back to Democratic in the most recent Presidential election, after voting Republican in 2016.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Dayton, OH is somewhat liberal.
Montgomery County, Ohio is leaning liberal.
Ohio 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.
Dayton, Ohio: d d d d r 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 Dayton, OH
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 11,101 contributions totaling $834,068 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $75 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,262 contributions totaling $4,051,358 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,791 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)