Banner Elk, NC is a small town located in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. Home to a population of just over 1,200 people, Banner Elk is known for its outdoor recreation opportunities and its thriving local economy. Despite its size, Banner Elk has vibrant local politics that are driven by a collective effort to create opportunity and improve quality of life for residents. Local candidates include incumbent Mayor J.D. McCrary and former Mayor Doug Matheson who are running for reelection in the upcoming election. Both have been credited with bringing significant economic development to Banner Elk, while also addressing important issues such as environmental protection and infrastructure improvement. The election is sure to be an exciting one as both candidates have been actively campaigning in recent months and proposing ideas that would benefit the entire community.
The political climate in Banner Elk, NC is strongly conservative.
Avery County, NC is very conservative. In Avery County, NC 23.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 75.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Avery county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 75.8% to 23.2%.
Avery county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Banner Elk, NC is strongly conservative.
Avery County, North Carolina is very conservative.
North Carolina is leaning 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.
Banner Elk, North Carolina: 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 Banner Elk, NC
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 411 contributions totaling $21,265 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $52 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 203 contributions totaling $48,521 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $239 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)