Ann Arbor, Michigan is a bustling city with an active political presence. Local politics in Ann Arbor primarily focus on issues such as public safety, transportation, land use, economic development and the environment. The City of Ann Arbor has a government that includes the Mayor's office, City Council, and City administrator. Each of these positions is filled by individuals elected or appointed to represent their constituency on various issues within the city. The Mayor of Ann Arbor is Christopher Taylor who was first elected in 2014 and was reelected again in 2018. There are 11 members of the Ann Arbor City Council which is made up of five at-large members and six ward representatives who are elected every two years. The City Administrator is Tom Crawford who oversees day-to-day operations with direction from the Mayor and City Council. Ann Arbor also has congressional representatives at both the state and federal levels representing their constituents’ interests in regards to local politics.
The political climate in Ann Arbor, MI is strongly liberal.
Washtenaw County, MI is very liberal. In Washtenaw County, MI 72.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 25.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Washtenaw county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 72.4% to 25.9%.
Washtenaw county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Ann Arbor, MI is strongly liberal.
Washtenaw County, Michigan is very liberal.
Ann Arbor Metro Area is very liberal.
Michigan is leaning 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.
Ann Arbor, Michigan: 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 Ann Arbor, MI
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 56,828 contributions totaling $6,830,832 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $120 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 3,059 contributions totaling $3,110,267 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,017 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)