Essex, Connecticut is a small town located on the Connecticut River. It has a long history of involvement in local politics. Essex is governed by an elected Board of Selectmen, who are responsible for setting policies and making decisions on behalf of the town. The Board consists of five members voted into office by the residents of Essex. They meet monthly to discuss issues concerning the community and to make decisions that impact the residents of Essex. In addition, there are several other positions within the town government such as Town Clerk, Tax Collector and Superintendent of Schools. Each position plays an important role in ensuring that Essex’s government operates properly and efficiently. In addition, Essex also has its own local political candidates who vie for office at elections held periodically throughout the year. These candidates must demonstrate their knowledge in order to be successful in representing their constituents’ needs and concerns. The citizens of Essex take pride in their involvement in local politics and have a strong sense of civic duty to participate when selecting their representatives for public office.
The political climate in Essex, CT is leaning liberal.
Middlesex County, CT is moderately liberal. In Middlesex County, CT 57.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Middlesex county remained very strongly Democratic, 57.3% to 41.0%.
Middlesex county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Essex, CT is leaning liberal.
Middlesex County, Connecticut is moderately liberal.
Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Connecticut is moderately 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.
Essex, Connecticut: 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 Essex, CT
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,479 contributions totaling $489,772 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $141 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 757 contributions totaling $100,398,968 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $132,627 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)