Park Rapids, MN is a small town located in the north-central region of Minnesota. It has a population of 3,731 according to the 2019 census and is the county seat of Hubbard County. In Park Rapids, local politics are focused on topics that directly affect its citizens such as economic development, housing planning, public safety, and infrastructure. Park Rapids city government is currently led by Mayor Nancy Carroll and City Council Members David Enevoldsen, Allen Stearns, Sadie Hardenbrook, Steve Schnieder, Brad Frischmann and Tony Drexler. The City Council meets regularly to discuss issues that impact residents and businesses within the city limits. Residents of Park Rapids have a variety of opportunities to get involved in local politics including attending council meetings and participating in citywide initiatives. Local political candidates are not mentioned here but can be found on the City website or through various media outlets.
The political climate in Park Rapids, MN is somewhat conservative.
Hubbard County, MN is strongly conservative. In Hubbard County, MN 34.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 63.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Hubbard county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 63.3% to 34.4%.
Hubbard county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Park Rapids, MN is somewhat conservative.
Hubbard 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.
Park Rapids, 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 Park Rapids, MN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 177 contributions totaling $8,844 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $50 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 233 contributions totaling $21,874 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $94 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)