Kalamazoo, MI is a vibrant city that has a deep history of political engagement. The Kalamazoo City Commission consists of nine elected members from the community, who serve four-year terms. Each year, three members are up for re-election and their records are carefully evaluated before being voted into office. This long standing tradition of municipal governance ensures that the people of Kalamazoo have direct access to and control over their local government. In addition to the commission, voters in Kalamazoo can also elect representatives to serve as Judges on the District Court and State Supreme Court levels. There also exists several civic organizations such as the League of Women Voters Michigan, ACLU Michigan, and NAACP Michigan that provide resources for citizens to stay informed about local political candidates and issues. All this combined makes Kalamazoo a place with a strong political presence and an engaged electorate which makes it an exciting place to live!
The political climate in Kalamazoo, MI is moderately liberal.
Kalamazoo County, MI is moderately liberal. In Kalamazoo County, MI 58.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 39.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kalamazoo county remained very strongly Democratic, 58.2% to 39.5%.
Kalamazoo county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Kalamazoo, MI is moderately liberal.
Kalamazoo County, Michigan is moderately liberal.
Kalamazoo-Portage Metro Area is somewhat 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.
Kalamazoo, 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 Kalamazoo, MI
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 17,603 contributions totaling $6,981,109 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $397 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,349 contributions totaling $638,802 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $272 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)