Harlan, KY is situated in the easternmost tip of Kentucky. This picturesque town is steeped in history and is home to a diverse range of people and cultures. Politically, Harlan is part of Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District and is represented by Republican Representative Thomas Massie in Washington DC. Additionally, the area is served by magistrates from the 11th Judicial District serving Harlan County. The county seat of Harlan features two locations for local government: the City Hall serves as both the city and county courthouse. Locally, voters are encouraged to participate in elections related to city, county, state and even national offices. In recent years, Harlan has seen an increase in political engagement from its citizens as more residents have become engaged with their local candidates for office on a variety of issues such as economic development and health care reform. While there may be many different views on politics in Harlan, all citizens are encouraged to take part in their democracy by voting and participating actively in local political discourse.
The political climate in Harlan, KY is moderately conservative.
Harlan County, KY is very conservative. In Harlan County, KY 13.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 85.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Harlan county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 85.4% to 13.6%.
Harlan county voted Republican in the last five Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Harlan, KY is moderately conservative.
Harlan County, Kentucky is very conservative.
Kentucky is strongly 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.
Harlan, Kentucky: d 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 Harlan, KY
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 13 contributions totaling $32,340 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $2,488 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 33 contributions totaling $13,630 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $413 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)