Detroit Lakes, MN is a small city located in northwestern Minnesota. With a population of over 8,500 people, it is the largest city in Becker County and serves as the county seat. Despite its small size, Detroit Lakes has an active political scene. The City Council is responsible for day-to-day operations of the city and serves as the legislative body for all municipal ordinances. Numerous local candidates have been elected to the Council and serve on various committees including Public Safety, Community Development, Utilities & Finance, and Parks & Recreation. Most recently, Dave Aune was elected mayor of Detroit Lakes in 2019. He brings with him a wealth of experience from his previous role as Becker County Commissioner and has already begun working hard to improve infrastructure and services across the community.
The political climate in Detroit Lakes, MN is moderately conservative.
Becker County, MN is strongly conservative. In Becker County, MN 34.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 64.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Becker county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 64.1% to 34.0%.
Becker county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Detroit Lakes, MN is moderately conservative.
Becker County, Minnesota is strongly conservative.
Minnesota 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.
Detroit Lakes, Minnesota: R R r 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 Detroit Lakes, MN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 307 contributions totaling $57,823 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $188 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 102 contributions totaling $13,800 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $135 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)