Brandon, SD is a small city in South Dakota with an estimated population of 10,000 residents. It is governed by a mayor-council form of government in which the mayor is elected at-large. The current mayor is Dave Piepkorn who was elected in 2018. He presides over the five-member city council, all of whom are elected to serve two-year terms. The duties of the city council include overseeing city finances, approving zoning regulations, enacting ordinances and resolutions, and appointing members to various boards and commissions. In addition to local election candidates, Brandon residents have access to national representation from both state and federal levels of government. On the federal level, Brandon is represented by at-large Congressman Dusty Johnson and Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds. At the state level, Brandon falls within District 14B for both the House of Representatives and Senate which are currently held by Arch Beal and Wayne Steinhauer respectively.
The political climate in Brandon, SD is somewhat conservative.
Minnehaha County, SD is somewhat conservative. In Minnehaha County, SD 43.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 53.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Minnehaha county remained moderately Republican, 53.3% to 43.8%.
Minnehaha county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Brandon, SD is somewhat conservative.
Minnehaha County, South Dakota is somewhat conservative.
Sioux Falls Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
South Dakota is strongly 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.
Brandon, South Dakota: R R d 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 Brandon, SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 113 contributions totaling $7,982 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $71 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 212 contributions totaling $52,758 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $249 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)