Gary, Indiana is a city located in the state of Indiana. It is a mid-sized city with a population of approximately 76,000 people. The city serves as the county seat for Lake County and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. Politically, Gary is largely Democratic. In 2019, all 7 members of the City Council were Democrats, as was its mayor, Karen Freeman-Wilson. At the state level, Gary is represented by two Democratic State Senators and four Democratic State Representatives. Additionally, Gary is represented in Congress by U.S. Representative André Carson (D-IN). The local government focuses on creating economic opportunities for residents by bringing in businesses and investment while also promoting public safety initiatives to ensure that Gary remains a safe place for its citizens to live and work.
The political climate in Gary, IN is moderately liberal.
Lake County, IN is somewhat liberal. In Lake County, IN 56.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Lake county remained very strongly Democratic, 56.7% to 41.6%.
Lake county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Gary, IN is moderately liberal.
Lake County, Indiana is somewhat liberal.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin Metro Area is very liberal.
Indiana is somewhat 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.
Gary, Indiana: 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 Gary, IN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,765 contributions totaling $150,399 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $85 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 220 contributions totaling $47,109 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $214 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)