Ottawa is a small city located in Putnam County, Ohio. It is home to around 4,500 citizens and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Statistical Area. Ottawa has a mayor-council type of government, with the mayor serving as the chief executive officer of the city and the council members representing their constituents in legislative matters. The current mayor of Ottawa is Joe Martin, who was elected in 2019 and is currently serving his first term. The council members are Ashley Chinnis, Larry Koehler, Tony Ragaini, Steve Updike and Brad Weldon. Municipal elections in Ottawa occur every two years in odd-numbered years.
The politics in Ottawa revolve around topics such as improving economic development, increasing public safety measures, and investing resources into infrastructure upgrades that benefit all residents. Additionally, many local organizations meet regularly to discuss various issues that involve the community's well-being. This includes groups such as the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Putnam County Economic Development Council which advocate for businesses operating within Ottawa's limits. Together, these entities ensure that certain policies are established for businesses in order to create an ecosystem conducive to growth and job creation while also keeping taxes low for residents.
The political climate in Ottawa, OH is strongly conservative.
Putnam County, OH is very conservative. In Putnam County, OH 16.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 82.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Putnam county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 82.3% to 16.0%.
Putnam county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Ottawa, OH is strongly conservative.
Putnam County, Ohio is very conservative.
Ohio 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.
Ottawa, Ohio: 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 Ottawa, OH
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 29 contributions totaling $3,825 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $132 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 56 contributions totaling $9,702 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $173 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)