Benton Harbor, Michigan is a small city in Berrien County with a population of approximately 10,000 people. The city is represented at the state level by two state legislators, members of the Michigan House of Representatives or the Michigan Senate. At the local level, Benton Harbor has its own mayor and six-member City Council that are elected to four-year terms on even years. The mayor and City Council members are responsible for developing laws and regulations to govern the city’s inhabitants. They also oversee all city departments and manage a budget of over $18 million. Additionally, each year the City Council appoints two citizens to three-year terms on the Benton Harbor Board of Light & Power which oversees public utilities like electricity distribution. In short, while Benton Harbor may be small in size, its government is just as focused on providing services to its citizens as any other municipality across the country.
The political climate in Benton Harbor, MI is somewhat liberal.
Berrien County, MI is leaning conservative. In Berrien County, MI 45.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 52.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Berrien county remained moderately Republican, 52.7% to 45.3%.
Berrien county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Benton Harbor, MI is somewhat liberal.
Berrien County, Michigan is leaning conservative.
Niles Metro Area is leaning conservative.
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.
Benton Harbor, Michigan: R R d 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 Benton Harbor, MI
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,416 contributions totaling $147,736 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $104 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 685 contributions totaling $280,712 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $410 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)