Thief River Falls, located in Pennington County, Minnesota, is a small city that has a vibrant political atmosphere. Although the city does not have any local candidates running for office, there are several state and federal representatives who represent the area. On the federal level, Congressman Collin Peterson represents District 7 which includes Thief River Falls. At the state level Senators Kent Eken and Mark Johnson represent District 4 which also includes Thief River Falls. On the local level, Thief River Falls citizens have an active voice in politics through their involvement in local government and citizen-run initiatives such as Taxpayers United of Thief River Falls. Local politicians work to ensure that the needs of community members are met and that residents feel empowered to make informed decisions about issues that affect them directly.
The political climate in Thief River Falls, MN is moderately conservative.
Pennington County, MN is strongly conservative. In Pennington County, MN 35.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 62.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Pennington county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 62.3% to 35.3%.
Pennington county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Thief River Falls, MN is moderately conservative.
Pennington 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.
Thief River Falls, Minnesota: R 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 Thief River Falls, MN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 145 contributions totaling $6,519 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $45 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 208 contributions totaling $23,608 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $114 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)