Des Plaines, IL is a vibrant city located near the greater Chicago metropolitan area. It is home to many businesses and industries that provide employment opportunities for its citizens. As a result, Des Plaines has seen recent growth in population and economic development. Politically, Des Plaines is part of Cook County, Illinois which leans heavily towards the Democratic Party. In terms of local representation, Des Plaines residents are represented by two members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners who take into account the interests of their constituents when making policy decisions. At the state level, Des Plaines is represented by five members in both the Illinois State Senate and House of Representatives. All these representatives are responsible for considering the needs and wants of their district’s constituents when voting on matters in their respective chambers. Additionally, several candidates are running for mayor in Des Plaines this year with the winner being determined through non-partisan general elections held every four years in November.
The political climate in Des Plaines, IL is moderately liberal.
Cook County, IL is very liberal. In Cook County, IL 74.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 24.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Cook county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 74.2% to 24.0%.
Cook county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Des Plaines, IL is moderately liberal.
Cook County, Illinois is very liberal.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin Metro Area is very liberal.
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.
Des Plaines, Illinois: 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 Des Plaines, IL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 16,807 contributions totaling $1,383,457 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $82 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 3,287 contributions totaling $2,293,926 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $698 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)