Rochester, Minnesota is a vibrant and growing community located in the heart of the state. The city has a long history of political engagement, with citizens coming together to make their voice heard both locally and nationally. In Rochester, residents elect mayors, city council members, county commissioners, school board members, and other local officials every two years. At the federal level, citizens send two representatives to Congress from Minnesota’s First Congressional District. Together they are responsible for representing the interests of Rochester citizens on a range of issues that affect them both domestically and internationally. Additionally, there are also various state-level elected officials who work to pass legislation that affects all Minnesotans. Overall, politics in Rochester is an important part of civic life and engagement by its residents is highly encouraged.
The political climate in Rochester, MN is leaning liberal.
Olmsted County, MN is somewhat liberal. In Olmsted County, MN 54.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 43.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Olmsted county remained strongly Democratic, 54.2% to 43.4%.
Olmsted county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Rochester, MN is leaning liberal.
Olmsted County, Minnesota is somewhat liberal.
Rochester Metro Area is leaning 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.
Rochester, Minnesota: r r 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 Rochester, MN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 8,807 contributions totaling $709,630 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $81 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,033 contributions totaling $522,675 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $257 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)