Houghton Lake is a small rural town located in Michigan's Roscommon County. The local politics of Houghton Lake are based on the belief that local government should be responsible for providing services to its citizens while being as fiscally responsible as possible. The town is led by an elected mayor and five-member council, who work together to make decisions for the town. They work closely with state and county representatives to ensure that their decisions benefit the entire community. In addition, they strive to promote economic growth and promote policies that will help improve the quality of life in Houghton Lake. Local elections are held every two years where voters decide which candidates will represent them on the local council. The town also has several committees that focus on specific interests, such as conservation, finance, and economic development. Overall, local politics in Houghton Lake are focused on helping the community thrive through fiscal responsibility and improving the quality of life within it.
The political climate in Houghton Lake, MI is moderately conservative.
Roscommon County, MI is strongly conservative. In Roscommon County, MI 34.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 64.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Roscommon county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 64.3% to 34.4%.
Roscommon county voted Republican in 2020, 2016, 2012 and 2004, and Democratic in 2008 and 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Houghton Lake, MI is moderately conservative.
Roscommon County, Michigan is strongly 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.
Houghton Lake, Michigan: d 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 Houghton Lake, MI
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 552 contributions totaling $39,714 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $72 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 182 contributions totaling $40,656 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $223 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)