The politics in Vermillion, South Dakota are shaped by a variety of factors. The local government is led by Mayor Matt Pattee who was elected in 2018. The mayor works with the City Council which is composed of eight members representing the four wards in the city. They serve two-year terms and are responsible for enacting laws, setting policies, and establishing the annual budget for the municipality. Additionally, each ward has an elected representative who serves on the county commission, which is responsible for countywide initiatives and activities, including road repairs and maintenance, housing programs, economic development projects and more. As a community of just over 10,000 citizens located in Clay County on the Missouri River in southeast South Dakota, Vermillion’s political landscape reflects its unique location between Sioux Falls and Sioux City Iowa as well as its status as home to The University of South Dakota.
The political climate in Vermillion, SD is somewhat liberal.
Clay County, SD is somewhat liberal. In Clay County, SD 54.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 43.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Clay county remained strongly Democratic, 54.1% to 43.1%.
Clay county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Vermillion, SD is somewhat liberal.
Clay County, South Dakota is somewhat liberal.
Vermillion Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
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.
Vermillion, South Dakota: 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 Vermillion, SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 744 contributions totaling $46,013 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $62 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 90 contributions totaling $18,245 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $203 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)