Dover, Delaware is the state capital and its politics are reflective of the state as a whole. The city is served by a mayor-council form of government, with the mayor being elected at-large and the city council having seven members representing individual districts. All municipal elections are non-partisan, so all candidates run without party affiliation labels. The local political landscape consists of debates over project funding and public safety initiatives, as well as discussions about how to create an even better quality of life for those who live in Dover. These debates often involve finding ways to leverage private sector resources in order to increase economic development while maintaining fiscal responsibility. Prominent issues that have been discussed in recent years include developing solutions for homelessness, investing in education and improving public infrastructure.
The political climate in Dover, DE is leaning liberal.
Kent County, DE is leaning liberal. In Kent County, DE 51.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 47.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kent county flipped Democratic, 51.2% to 47.1%.
Kent county flipped Democratic in the most recent Presidential election (2000, 2004 and 2016 went Republican).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Dover, DE is leaning liberal.
Kent County, Delaware is leaning liberal.
Dover Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Delaware 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.
Dover, Delaware: r R d d r 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 Dover, DE
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,475 contributions totaling $169,915 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $69 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 834 contributions totaling $189,524 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $227 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)