The politics in Indianapolis, IN involve a variety of stakeholders including the local government, community organization, and residents. The city is run by a Mayor-Council form of government in which the Mayor is elected to a four-year term by the citizens while the City Council consists of 25 elected members that serve as legislative representatives for each district within the city. Additionally, there are several boards, commissions and committees that oversee various areas such as police oversight and crime prevention. In terms of policy issues, Indianapolis has been proactive in its efforts to address poverty, creating jobs through economic investment projects and promoting social justice initiatives. Education reform has been a focus as well with initiatives such as expanding pre-K education for all children in Marion County. Overall, Indianapolis remains an engaged and progressive city when it comes to politics and its citizens continue to be involved in the decision making process.
The political climate in Indianapolis, IN is moderately liberal.
Marion County, IN is strongly liberal. In Marion County, IN 63.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 34.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Marion county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 63.3% to 34.3%.
Marion county voted Democratic in the last five Presidential elections, after voting Republican in 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Indianapolis, IN is moderately liberal.
Marion County, Indiana is strongly liberal.
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson Metro Area is leaning 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.
Indianapolis, Indiana: r 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 Indianapolis, IN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 67,336 contributions totaling $11,150,156 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $166 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 17,757 contributions totaling $16,058,060 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $904 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)