Despard, WV is a small rural town located in the Appalachian Mountains. Despite its small size and population, politics in Despard are still an important part of the community. The town has two political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, but most of the residents lean towards the Democratic side. In local elections, residents elect their mayor as well as representatives to the county council. Local issues such as education funding and infrastructure improvements are also voted on by Despard residents. Each candidate presents their own ideas for improving Despard and its surrounding area. From road repairs to environmental regulations, local politicians take into consideration what will best benefit Despard's citizens. No matter who is elected to represent them, it is clear that Despard's citizens place a high value on their political voice.
The political climate in Despard, WV is moderately conservative.
Harrison County, WV is very conservative. In Harrison County, WV 30.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 67.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Harrison county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 67.9% to 30.2%.
Harrison county voted Republican in the last five Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Despard, WV is moderately conservative.
Harrison County, West Virginia is very conservative.
Clarksburg Metro Area is very conservative.
West Virginia is very 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.
Despard, West Virginia: d 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 Despard, WV
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 452 contributions totaling $69,834 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $155 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 272 contributions totaling $93,544 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $344 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)