Winchester, Minnesota is a small town located in Rice County. It has a rich history of local politics that dates back to its founding in the mid-1800s. The town has been governed by an elected Mayor and four city council members since inception. The current mayor is Steve Anderson, who was re-elected for a second term in 2019. He has been an active supporter of community improvement initiatives such as increasing public safety and revitalizing the downtown area. In addition to the mayor, the City Council consists of four elected members who represent each district of the city. These individuals take responsibility for managing local government affairs, approving budgets and making laws that affect residents of Winchester. Residents can vote in local elections each year to ensure their voices are heard on important issues that affect the community. This allows citizens to have a say in how their town is run and encourages civic engagement within the community.
The political climate in Winchester, MN is moderately conservative.
Norman County, MN is somewhat conservative. In Norman County, MN 40.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 56.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Norman county remained very strongly Republican, 56.8% to 40.8%.
Norman county voted Republican again in 2020, after voting Democratic in 2012, 2008, and 2004.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Winchester, MN is moderately conservative.
Norman County, Minnesota is somewhat 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.
Winchester, Minnesota: r d D D 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 Winchester, MN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 144 contributions totaling $12,324 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $86 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 5 contributions totaling $951 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $190 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)