Parkston, SD is a small town in southeastern South Dakota that is known for its friendly community and rural way of life. Politically, Parkston is relatively conservative, with the majority of voters leaning towards Republican candidates in recent elections. The town has had consistent leadership over the years with only a few changes in local officials. Parkston's Mayor, Robert Koch, has held office since 2010 and is currently serving his third consecutive term. Other members of the city council are mostly Republicans such as Dan Stange and John Mertens. In addition to these positions, Parkston also has a state representative at the state level who represents the area in Pierre. Local politics in Parkston are focused on maintaining its rural character while still providing services and support to residents. Many initiatives such as road upkeep and funding for local schools have been championed by both Democrats and Republicans alike.
The political climate in Parkston, SD is strongly conservative.
Hutchinson County, SD is very conservative. In Hutchinson County, SD 20.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 78.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Hutchinson county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 78.2% to 20.2%.
Hutchinson county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Parkston, SD is strongly conservative.
Hutchinson County, South Dakota is very conservative.
South Dakota is strongly 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.
Parkston, South Dakota: R R R R 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 Parkston, SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 20 contributions totaling $691 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $35 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 15 contributions totaling $3,900 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $260 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)