Sunriver, OR is a small town located in Deschutes County, Oregon. It has a total area of 8.8 square miles and a population of over 3,000 people. While Sunriver has its own local government, much of the politics are driven by the state and county level governments. The Deschutes County government is responsible for setting policy on issues such as taxation, public safety, infrastructure development, and economic development. At the state level, the residents of Sunriver are represented in the Oregon Legislature by two senators and three representatives from Deschutes County’s legislative districts. The current senator for District 27 is Tim Knopp (R), while Tawna Sanchez (D) serves as senator for District 28. Residents also vote on ballot initiatives that can enact policies on a statewide basis that may affect Sunriver or other areas of Oregon; such as recent ballot measures to increase taxes or decriminalize marijuana use.
The political climate in Sunriver, OR is somewhat liberal.
Deschutes County, OR is somewhat liberal. In Deschutes County, OR 52.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 44.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Deschutes county flipped moderately Democratic, 52.7% to 44.4%.
Deschutes county flipped Democratic after voting Republican in the previous five Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Sunriver, OR is somewhat liberal.
Deschutes County, Oregon is somewhat liberal.
Bend Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Oregon 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.
Sunriver, Oregon: R R r r r 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 Sunriver, OR
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,129 contributions totaling $80,860 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $72 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 146 contributions totaling $24,976 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $171 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)