Westminster is a small town located in Oconee County, South Carolina. It is home to a diverse population made up of both rural and urban residents. In terms of politics, Westminster is served by the Oconee County Council, as well as its own mayor and city council. The mayor is elected every four years and the council members are elected every two years on a nonpartisan basis. The Mayor's role is to serve as the leader of the city government and oversee its day-to-day operations. The City Council serves as a legislative body, passing ordinances and resolutions related to local issues such as zoning ordinances, parks, recreation centers, and municipal services. Additionally, the County Council serves as an oversight board for all activities in Oconee County. All local political candidates must be residents of Westminster to be eligible for office.
The political climate in Westminster, SC is strongly conservative.
Oconee County, SC is very conservative. In Oconee County, SC 25.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 73.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Oconee county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 73.0% to 25.6%.
Oconee county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Westminster, SC is strongly conservative.
Oconee County, South Carolina is very conservative.
Seneca Metro Area is very 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.
Westminster, 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 Westminster, SC
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 236 contributions totaling $9,866 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $42 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 102 contributions totaling $13,986 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $137 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)