Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania is a city located in the Wyoming Valley region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Politics in Wilkes-Barre are primarily focused on local issues such as education, public safety, and community development. City Hall is responsible for most matters concerning the city's infrastructure and government. Policies enacted by the city council have a direct impact on the citizens of Wilkes-Barre, and residents often express their opinion on local politics through forums and meetings with elected officials. Local elections feature candidates from both major party affiliations who compete for a spot to represent the citizens of Wilkes-Barre in the city government. In addition, Wilkes-Barre also has representation at state level politics from various legislators who serve in Harrisburg for the commonwealth legislature.
The political climate in Wilkes-Barre, PA is leaning conservative.
Luzerne County, PA is somewhat conservative. In Luzerne County, PA 42.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 56.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Luzerne county remained strongly Republican, 56.6% to 42.3%.
Luzerne county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Wilkes-Barre, PA is leaning conservative.
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania is somewhat conservative.
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Pennsylvania is leaning 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.
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: d d d d 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 Wilkes-Barre, PA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,612 contributions totaling $434,963 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $167 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 622 contributions totaling $259,525 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $417 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)