Billings, Montana is the largest city in the state and is an important center of political activity. The politics in Billings are largely focused on issues that affect the local community such as education, economic growth, public services, and environmental protection. Local political candidates often focus on these issues during their campaigns, with a particular emphasis on how they can help to improve the quality of life for those living in Billings. There are many different political parties represented in Billings including Democratic and Republican Party members, as well as independents. Each party strives to make its voice heard through various means including speeches, debates, and local events. Although elections are held at the county level, there is also a strong presence of national politics within Billings since it is home to many federal government offices. Ultimately, residents of Billings have the opportunity to decide who their representatives will be by casting their vote in local elections.
The political climate in Billings, MT is somewhat conservative.
Yellowstone County, MT is strongly conservative. In Yellowstone County, MT 36.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 60.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Yellowstone county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 60.6% to 36.6%.
Yellowstone county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Billings, MT is somewhat conservative.
Yellowstone County, Montana is strongly conservative.
Billings Metro Area is strongly conservative.
Montana is moderately conservative.
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.
Billings, Montana: 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 Billings, MT
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 19,550 contributions totaling $2,424,740 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $124 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 5,406 contributions totaling $3,755,954 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $695 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)