Ketchikan, Alaska is a city with a population of 8,050 and is located on Revillagigedo Island in the southeastern corner of the state. It is considered the gateway to Alaska’s Inside Passage and has a long history of fishing and logging. Politically, Ketchikan has traditionally been a Democratic-leaning city. In the last two presidential elections, Ketchikan had voted overwhelmingly for Democrats; Hillary Clinton gained nearly 70 percent of the vote in 2016. It was also one of only eight cities in Alaska to vote for Barack Obama during his reelection bid in 2012. The City Council has nine members that have been elected at-large by voters since 1981; six are currently affiliated with the Democratic Party while three are registered as non-partisan or independents. The mayor also serves on the City Council and is elected by its members annually. Local political candidates vying for office typically focus on issues such as taxation, public safety, economic development, infrastructure improvements and environmental protection.
The political climate in Ketchikan, AK is leaning conservative.
Ketchikan Gateway Borough County, AK is somewhat conservative. In Ketchikan Gateway Borough County, AK 40.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 54.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 4.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Ketchikan Gateway Borough flipped strongly Republican, 54.8% to 40.7%.
Ketchikan Gateway flipped Republican in 2020, after voting Democratic in 2016 and 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Ketchikan, AK is leaning conservative.
Ketchikan Gateway Borough County, Alaska is somewhat conservative.
Ketchikan Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
Alaska is somewhat 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.
Ketchikan, Alaska: D R R R D 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 Ketchikan, AK
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 913 contributions totaling $72,253 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $79 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 189 contributions totaling $40,523 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $214 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)