Silver Spring, MD is a vibrant and diverse community with a long history of political engagement. The city is part of Montgomery County, which has had many influential political figures come out of it over the decades. Local politics in Silver Spring are highly visible, with plenty of opportunity for citizens to get involved and make their voices heard. From attending public meetings to volunteering for campaigns, there are many ways to get involved and make a difference in the community. Recently, the City Council has been pushing forward initiatives focused on environmental sustainability, economic development, and social justice. This attention to local issues has made Silver Spring an attractive place for political candidates from both major parties to compete for votes and office each election cycle. Additionally, as part of the Washington Metropolitan Area, Silver Spring residents have access to a variety of state-wide issues that often spark passionate debate amongst the locals. In short, local politics in Silver Spring can be complex but exciting—full of opportunities to learn about the issues and become involved in your community’s future.
The political climate in Silver Spring, MD is strongly liberal.
Montgomery County, MD is very liberal. In Montgomery County, MD 78.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 19.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Montgomery county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 78.6% to 19.0%.
Montgomery county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Silver Spring, MD is strongly liberal.
Montgomery County, Maryland is very liberal.
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metro Area is very liberal.
Maryland is very liberal.
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.
Silver Spring, Maryland: 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 Silver Spring, MD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 88,342 contributions totaling $32,151,729 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $364 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 3,901 contributions totaling $2,116,806 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $543 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)