Ghent, NY is a small rural town located in Columbia County. The local politics in Ghent have been dominated by the same few people for many years. However, recent elections have seen the election of new faces to the local government, bringing some much-needed changes to town policy. The current mayor is a long-time resident who has brought their experience and enthusiasm to the position. In addition, there are several members of the town council that have worked hard for the betterment of the community. Local initiatives have included increasing public access to parks and recreation facilities as well as fostering economic development in Ghent's downtown area. The citizens of Ghent also enjoy being represented by various state and federal elected officials who understand and appreciate their needs and interests.
The political climate in Ghent, NY is leaning liberal.
Columbia County, NY is moderately liberal. In Columbia County, NY 57.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 40.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Columbia county remained very strongly Democratic, 57.2% to 40.6%.
Columbia county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Ghent, NY is leaning liberal.
Columbia County, New York is moderately liberal.
Hudson Metro Area is moderately liberal.
New York is moderately 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.
Ghent, New York: d d 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 Ghent, NY
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 9,614 contributions totaling $1,191,994 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $124 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 573 contributions totaling $155,718 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $272 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)