Fort Benton, MT is an historic town located in northcentral Montana along the Missouri River. The small town has an estimated population of 1,464 as of 2019 and is known for its agricultural roots and its rich history. Politically, Fort Benton is part of Chouteau County, which is represented in the state legislature by Republican Senator Frank Smith and Democratic Representative Tom Jacobson. At the local level, Fort Benton is governed by a mayor and city council. Mayor Rick Paterson was recently re-elected in November 2020 with overwhelming support from the community. The city council consists of five members who are elected at-large by voters every two years. Together, these elected officials work to ensure that all residents have access to necessary services such as public safety, infrastructure maintenance and economic development initiatives.
The political climate in Fort Benton, MT is somewhat conservative.
Chouteau County, MT is strongly conservative. In Chouteau County, MT 33.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 63.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Chouteau county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 63.8% to 33.4%.
Chouteau county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Fort Benton, MT is somewhat conservative.
Chouteau County, Montana 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.
Fort Benton, 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 Fort Benton, MT
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 59 contributions totaling $14,591 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $247 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 143 contributions totaling $24,431 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $171 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)