Orinda, CA is an affluent city in Contra Costa County, located just east of Oakland and the San Francisco Bay. It is well known for its beautiful scenery and picturesque neighborhoods. Despite its small size, Orinda is home to a rich and diverse political landscape. The local government consists of five City Council members who are elected by the citizens of Orinda every four years. These council members are responsible for making decisions on everything from budgetary issues to land use and development. Additionally, the city is represented at the state level by Senator Steven Glazer and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, both Democrats from neighboring districts. Every election cycle brings new opportunities for citizens to stay informed about local politics, get involved in their community, and have an impact on legislation affecting Orinda’s future.
The political climate in Orinda, CA is moderately liberal.
Contra Costa County, CA is very liberal. In Contra Costa County, CA 71.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 26.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Contra Costa county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 71.6% to 26.3%.
Contra Costa county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Orinda, CA is moderately liberal.
Contra Costa County, California is very liberal.
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley 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.
Orinda, California: 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 Orinda, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 92,244 contributions totaling $16,820,786 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $182 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 5,257 contributions totaling $2,512,173 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $478 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)