Richmond, VA is the capital of Virginia and has a long history of political activity. The city serves as a major hub for the state’s politics, from the Virginia General Assembly to local elections. Richmond residents take part in a variety of local elections, including voting for City Council members, Mayor, Sheriff, and Commonwealth’s Attorney. The city also votes in statewide elections such as governor and US senator. There are numerous issues that have been debated in Richmond over the years such as education reform, transportation infrastructure development, and economic growth. Residents are passionate about taking part in their local government by participating in debates and civic engagement initiatives. It is clear that Richmond's citizens have a profound impact on their government's functioning and decision-making process.
The political climate in Richmond, VA is strongly liberal.
Richmond City County, VA is very liberal. In Richmond City County, VA 82.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 14.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Richmond city county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 82.9% to 14.9%.
Richmond city county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Richmond, VA is strongly liberal.
Richmond City County, Virginia is very liberal.
Richmond Metro Area is moderately liberal.
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.
Richmond, Virginia: 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 Richmond, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 21,343 contributions totaling $3,765,705 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $176 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 4,119 contributions totaling $2,034,403 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $494 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)