Athens, TN has a thriving political environment with the local government working to create a positive atmosphere for its residents. Athens is represented by Representative Chuck Fleischmann in the United States House of Representatives and Senator Marsha Blackburn in the Senate. Locally, there is a mayor/council form of government, with current Mayor Ronnie Marks presiding over 6 council members. The city council regularly meets to discuss issues affecting the citizens of Athens and work towards solutions that benefit everyone in the community. The city also puts on several events throughout the year that draw people from all walks of life to come together and celebrate their shared pride for their city. Political discourse is encouraged in Athens, as citizens are offered many opportunities to voice their opinions through ballot initiatives, forums, town halls, and more. Overall, Athens is a great example of how politics can be used as an effective tool to help improve quality of life for all its residents.
The political climate in Athens, TN is moderately conservative.
McMinn County, TN is very conservative. In McMinn County, TN 19.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 79.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, McMinn county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 79.7% to 19.1%.
McMinn county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Athens, TN is moderately conservative.
McMinn County, Tennessee is very conservative.
Athens Metro Area is very conservative.
Tennessee is moderately 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.
Athens, Tennessee: 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 Athens, TN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 644 contributions totaling $21,640 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $34 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 628 contributions totaling $137,728 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $219 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)