Beardstown, IL is a small town located in central Illinois with a population of 6,123 according to the 2019 census. The city has had a long history of political involvement from the local level to the state and national level. On the local level, Beardstown holds regular city council meetings that make decisions on budgeting, ordinances, and other important matters for the town. The current mayor of Beardstown is Eileen Bulinski who was elected in 2017. Local elections for City Council representatives take place every two years in April and are open to all registered voters living within the city limits. On a larger scale, Illinois’ 16th Congressional district includes Beardstown along with other rural areas in central Illinois. The current representative is Republican Adam Kinzinger who has been serving since 2011. At the state level, Beardstown lies within the 93rd District represented by longtime incumbent Democrat Sue Scherer since 2007. As far as national politics are concerned, an overwhelming majority of residents in Beardstown voted for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election with 56% percent favoring him over Hillary Clinton (41%) and Gary Johnson (2%).
The political climate in Beardstown, IL is moderately conservative.
Cass County, IL is very conservative. In Cass County, IL 30.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 68.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Cass county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 68.1% to 30.3%.
Cass county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Beardstown, IL is moderately conservative.
Cass County, Illinois is very conservative.
Illinois 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.
Beardstown, Illinois: r R d 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 Beardstown, IL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 78 contributions totaling $1,039 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $13 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 50 contributions totaling $13,383 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $268 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)