The city of Bend, Oregon is a vibrant and growing community. It has a number of local political organizations and candidates actively vying for office. The Democratic and Republican Parties are the two major parties represented in Bend, with a number of local candidates running for office at varying levels. Several environmental and progressive activist groups are also active in the area, advocating for more green initiatives in government operations. Additionally, there are several small but influential grassroots organizations seeking to bring new ideas to the table. All of these groups are working together to provide Bend residents with meaningful representation in their government and help shape the future of this beautiful city.
The political climate in Bend, OR is leaning liberal.
Deschutes County, OR is somewhat liberal. In Deschutes County, OR 52.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 44.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Deschutes county flipped moderately Democratic, 52.7% to 44.4%.
Deschutes county flipped Democratic after voting Republican in the previous five Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Bend, OR is leaning liberal.
Deschutes County, Oregon is somewhat liberal.
Bend Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Oregon 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.
Bend, Oregon: R R r r 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 Bend, OR
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 15,625 contributions totaling $898,478 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $58 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,105 contributions totaling $446,462 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $212 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)