Sanibel, FL is a beautiful beach town located in Lee County, Florida. Politically speaking, Sanibel leans towards the Republican party. The mayor of Sanibel is Kevin Ruane who was reelected for his fifth term in 2019. The city council consists of eight members that were elected in November 2018, all of whom are affiliated with the Republican party. Additionally, the county commission for Lee County is made up of five members all from the Republican party. They are responsible for making decisions on issues such as development and transportation that affect Sanibel residents. In general, the politics in Sanibel focus on growth and sustainability while balancing the community's interests with environmental protection and conservation efforts.
The political climate in Sanibel, FL is moderately conservative.
Lee County, FL is moderately conservative. In Lee County, FL 39.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 59.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Lee county remained very strongly Republican, 59.1% to 39.9%.
Lee county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Sanibel, FL is moderately conservative.
Lee County, Florida is moderately conservative.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metro Area is moderately 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.
Sanibel, 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 Sanibel, FL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,369 contributions totaling $716,054 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $213 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,378 contributions totaling $2,635,426 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,913 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)