The town of Watts Mills, SC is a small but bustling community situated in the Upstate region of South Carolina. It has a vibrant history and culture, as evidenced by the many local businesses and attractions that draw people from all over the region to explore what Watts Mills has to offer. The area has had an active political landscape for many years, with various local initiatives and campaigns being proposed every election cycle. Currently, the mayor of Watts Mills is Denise Gantt who was elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. She is supported by a city council made up of four other members who are voted on every four years. Issues such as public safety, economic development, infrastructure improvements, and education have been major topics during past elections which have seen heated debates between candidates from both major parties. Additionally, citizens of Watts Mills have taken proactive steps towards ensuring social progress in their community with issues like racial justice and civil rights becoming increasingly important for local politicians to consider. With its strong sense of community and commitment to progressiveness, Watts Mills continues to be an example of successful local politics in South Carolina.
The political climate in Watts Mills, SC is somewhat conservative.
Laurens County, SC is very conservative. In Laurens County, SC 33.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 65.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Laurens county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 65.6% to 33.3%.
Laurens county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Watts Mills, SC is somewhat conservative.
Laurens County, South Carolina is very conservative.
Greenville-Anderson Metro Area is strongly conservative.
South Carolina is somewhat 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.
Watts Mills, South 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 Watts Mills, SC
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 90 contributions totaling $10,534 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $117 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 237 contributions totaling $43,856 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $185 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)