Fort Walton Beach, FL is a city located in Okaloosa County on the Emerald Coast of the Florida Panhandle. Politically, Fort Walton Beach leans conservative with the Republican Party dominating most recent elections. In the most recent election for Mayor, Republican candidate Mike Anderson won over Independent candidate Wayne Overman by a landslide. The current City Council consists of five members and all are Republicans. Issues of importance to local residents include economic growth, public safety, infrastructure improvements, and beach preservation. Local politicians have been working hard to create job opportunities and attract businesses in order to strengthen the economy while also preserving Fort Walton Beach’s unique coastal beauty. Additionally, they are committed to ensuring that the community remains safe through investments in public safety programs such as police and fire protection services. Ultimately, politics in Fort Walton Beach focus on providing economic opportunity while preserving local natural resources and protecting public safety.
The political climate in Fort Walton Beach, FL is moderately conservative.
Okaloosa County, FL is very conservative. In Okaloosa County, FL 29.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 68.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Okaloosa county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 68.4% to 29.3%.
Okaloosa county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Fort Walton Beach, FL is moderately conservative.
Okaloosa County, Florida is very conservative.
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin Metro Area is very conservative.
Florida is leaning conservative.
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.
Fort Walton Beach, Florida: R R R R R R
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 Fort Walton Beach, FL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 673 contributions totaling $70,185 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $104 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 743 contributions totaling $320,953 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $432 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)