Santa Monica, CA is a vibrant coastal city located near Los Angeles. Politically, it is a progressive haven that prides itself on providing various services and opportunities to its citizens, such as improved public transportation options and access to higher education. The city has long been represented by a Democratic majority in the local government, with representatives advocating for policies such as increased access to affordable housing and healthcare, environmental protection initiatives, and strengthened worker rights. Currently, the Mayor of Santa Monica is Ted Winterer and there are six City Council members from different districts who serve terms of four years each. In addition to these elected officials, various committees are in place that represent the interests of local residents and organizations. This includes task forces devoted to issues such as climate change adaptation and economic justice. Through this system of engaged political representation, Santa Monica works to ensure that its citizens’ voices are heard at all levels of government.
The political climate in Santa Monica, CA is strongly liberal.
Los Angeles County, CA is very liberal. In Los Angeles County, CA 71.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 26.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Los Angeles county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 71.0% to 26.9%.
Los Angeles county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Santa Monica, CA is strongly liberal.
Los Angeles County, California is very 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.
Santa Monica, 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 Santa Monica, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 66,531 contributions totaling $23,049,182 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $346 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 3,216 contributions totaling $2,291,745 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $713 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)