Ottawa, Kansas is the county seat of Franklin County and has a population of 12,084. It is a vibrant city with a rich history and diverse population that makes it an ideal place to live, work, and play. Politically, Ottawa is home to many different viewpoints and perspectives in governance. The city council consists of five elected members who are charged with representing the interests of Ottawa's citizens. Every two years local residents can cast their vote for mayor or one of the council members whose terms are directly linked to the mayoral election cycle. Locally elected representatives respond to citizens’ needs through budgetary oversight, including approval/denial of appropriations requests for capital improvement projects as well as day-to-day operational decisions such as ordinances and resolutions. Additionally, Ottawa’s citizens have the opportunity to be involved in their government through participation in community boards and commission meetings such as planning or finance boards. Ultimately, all politics in Ottawa revolve around the work done by its elected leaders to ensure that its citizens receive fair representation and quality services from the government.
The political climate in Ottawa, KS is moderately conservative.
Franklin County, KS is very conservative. In Franklin County, KS 29.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 68.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Franklin county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 68.0% to 29.6%.
Franklin county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Ottawa, KS is moderately conservative.
Franklin County, Kansas is very conservative.
Ottawa Metro Area is very 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.
Ottawa, 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 Ottawa, KS
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 963 contributions totaling $20,326 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $21 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 101 contributions totaling $28,029 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $278 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)