Garfield Township in Clay County, South Dakota is a small rural community with a population of around 500 people.The township is governed by its local Township Board, which consists of three elected members that meet on a regular basis to decide on local issues such as public works and zoning. Residents of the town are able to vote in local elections for these board members, who serve two-year terms and can be reelected indefinitely. The township also elects one member each year to the Clay County Board of Commissioners, who represent the township in county government. Garfield Township often has contested races for its board positions, as residents want representatives who will look out for their best interests and work hard to improve the quality of life within the community.
The political climate in Garfield township (Clay County), SD is somewhat conservative.
Clay County, SD is somewhat liberal. In Clay County, SD 54.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 43.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Clay county remained strongly Democratic, 54.1% to 43.1%.
Clay county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Garfield township (Clay County), SD is somewhat conservative.
Clay County, South Dakota is somewhat liberal.
Vermillion Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
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.
Garfield township (Clay County), South Dakota: d D D D d 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 Garfield township (Clay County), SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 978 contributions totaling $78,027 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $80 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 200 contributions totaling $27,183 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $136 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)