Grattan, MI is a small town in Kent County with a population of around 4,000 people. The local government is run by an elected board that consists of a Mayor and four Town Council members. Elections for these positions are held every two years and citizens of the town have the opportunity to vote on who will best represent them at the local level. The current mayor is William Smith and he has been in office since 2015. On the Town Council, there are three incumbents: Robert Jones, Joe Davis, and Ann Johnson. This year’s election is an exciting one as it features multiple candidates vying for these positions. Each candidate has their own unique views on how to best govern the town and residents will be sure to have a say in who they want to see lead Grattan into the future.
The political climate in Grattan, MI is somewhat conservative.
Kent County, MI is leaning liberal. In Kent County, MI 51.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 45.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kent county flipped moderately Democratic, 51.9% to 45.8%.
Kent county flipped Democratic in 2020, after voting Republican in four of the last six Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Grattan, MI is somewhat conservative.
Kent County, Michigan is leaning liberal.
Grand Rapids-Kentwood 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.
Grattan, Michigan: R R d r r 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 Grattan, MI
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,258 contributions totaling $330,412 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $101 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,251 contributions totaling $1,521,961 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,217 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)