Costa Mesa, CA is a city in Orange County that is known for its vibrant culture and rich history. Located near the Pacific Ocean, the city has a population of around 113,000 people and is home to many businesses and organizations. Politically, the city is represented by Mayor Katrina Foley who was elected in 2018. Additionally, the Costa Mesa City Council serves as the legislative branch of government in Costa Mesa and oversees matters such as land use policies, public safety regulations, and funding for local projects. The City Council consists of seven members who are all elected to four-year terms. Additionally, Costa Mesa holds several elections every year for state representatives, senators, US congressional representatives, and other political positions on the local level. In this way, citizens have a say in who represents them at all levels of government from local to national.
The political climate in Costa Mesa, CA is somewhat liberal.
Orange County, CA is somewhat liberal. In Orange County, CA 53.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 44.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Orange county remained moderately Democratic, 53.5% to 44.4%.
Orange county voted Democratic in 2020 and 2016, after voting Republican in the previous four elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Costa Mesa, CA is somewhat liberal.
Orange County, California is somewhat liberal.
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim Metro Area is very liberal.
California is strongly 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.
Costa Mesa, California: R R r r 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 Costa Mesa, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 23,168 contributions totaling $3,676,917 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $159 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 8,878 contributions totaling $12,082,547 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,361 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)