Port Arthur, TX is a diverse city located on the Gulf Coast in Southeast Texas. It is a community that has been historically shaped by its agricultural and petrochemical industry. The city is represented at the state level by state representatives Dade Phelan and Joe Deshotel in the Texas House of Representatives and Senator Bryan Hughes in the Texas Senate. At the local level, Port Arthur operates with a Mayor-Council government structure, with Mayor Thurman Bill Bartie currently serving as mayor. The City Council consists of nine members representing single-member districts throughout the city. It provides services such as public safety, parks and recreation, public works, economic development and environmental management to residents of Port Arthur. Recent efforts to strengthen local politics include enhancing citizen participation by providing more access to information about upcoming decisions and initiatives, as well as engaging citizens through various methods such as town hall meetings.
The political climate in Port Arthur, TX is leaning liberal.
Jefferson County, TX is leaning conservative. In Jefferson County, TX 48.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 50.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Jefferson county remained narrowly Republican, 50.2% to 48.6%.
Jefferson county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Port Arthur, TX is leaning liberal.
Jefferson County, Texas is leaning conservative.
Beaumont-Port Arthur Metro Area is strongly conservative.
Texas 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.
Port Arthur, Texas: d d d d 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 Port Arthur, TX
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,131 contributions totaling $290,396 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $136 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,637 contributions totaling $381,187 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $233 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)