Wichita, Kansas is the largest city in the state and a hub of political activity. Located in south-central Kansas, Wichita is home to a variety of political offices from city council to county commission. The current mayor of Wichita is Brandon Whipple who was elected in 2019. The city is represented at the state level by Senator Richard Hilderbrand and Representatives Jeff Longbine and Les Mason. At the federal level, Representative Ron Estes serves as Wichita’s U.S. Representative in Congress. \nWichita is also home to an active civic engagement culture with many local organizations engaging residents in political conversations and activities aiming to foster more equitable outcomes for all members of its community. This includes voter registration drives, rallies, and other community events that focus on promoting civic participation among members of all ages and backgrounds. These efforts are ongoing throughout the year culminating during election cycles when citizens make their voices heard through voting booths across the city.
The political climate in Wichita, KS is leaning conservative.
Sedgwick County, KS is somewhat conservative. In Sedgwick County, KS 42.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 54.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Sedgwick county remained strongly Republican, 54.4% to 42.6%.
Sedgwick county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Wichita, KS is leaning conservative.
Sedgwick County, Kansas is somewhat conservative.
Wichita Metro Area is moderately conservative.
Kansas 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.
Wichita, Kansas: 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 Wichita, KS
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 12,773 contributions totaling $1,137,534 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $89 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 5,426 contributions totaling $5,971,581 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,101 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)