The politics of Blue Ridge, VA are largely influenced by the surrounding area. The town is situated in a rural area of Southwest Virginia with a history of strong conservative values and support for local businesses. In recent years, there has been an increasing presence of progressive ideals in the community as well. This has led to some political tension between the two sides, but Blue Ridge residents have still managed to come together and work towards the common goal of creating a better future for their town. Local elections tend to focus on issues such as education, infrastructure, and economic development rather than party affiliation. Voters here value candidates who have a grasp on both sides of the aisle and can bring about compromise and progress without sacrificing their core values. Generally speaking, Blue Ridge citizens are passionate about their town’s progress and take pride in its past successes while looking ahead with optimism towards what the future may hold.
The political climate in Blue Ridge, VA is strongly conservative.
Botetourt County, VA is very conservative. In Botetourt County, VA 27.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 71.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Botetourt county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 71.5% to 27.0%.
Botetourt county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Blue Ridge, VA is strongly conservative.
Botetourt County, Virginia is very conservative.
Roanoke Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
Virginia is somewhat 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.
Blue Ridge, Virginia: 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 Blue Ridge, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 346 contributions totaling $16,041 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $46 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 188 contributions totaling $28,256 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $150 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)