The small town of Bridgewater, VA is home to a population of just over 5,000 residents. Founded in 1738, Bridgewater is notable for its strong sense of community spirit and its commitment to preserving local history. Politically, the town is primarily driven by local initiatives. The town council consists of five members, elected every four years by the citizens of Bridgewater. The current mayor is Steven Riccio, who has been in office since 2009 and is running for re-election this year. It's a small but thriving community in which civic engagement is highly encouraged and celebrated. Residents are passionate about their local government and are eager to participate in the political process through voting, attending town hall meetings, writing letters to elected officials and taking part in protests or rallies. Overall, politics in Bridgewater are an important part of life for its residents who strive to maintain the values they have held onto for centuries.
The political climate in Bridgewater, VA is moderately conservative.
Rockingham County, VA is very conservative. In Rockingham County, VA 28.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 69.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Rockingham county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 69.3% to 28.9%.
Rockingham county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Bridgewater, VA is moderately conservative.
Rockingham County, Virginia is very conservative.
Harrisonburg 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.
Bridgewater, 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 Bridgewater, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,377 contributions totaling $164,473 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $69 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 762 contributions totaling $192,626 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $253 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)