Pleasant Valley Township in Clay County, South Dakota is a rural farming community with a population of over 1,400. It is home to the city of Vermillion, the home of the University of South Dakota. Local politics in Pleasant Valley Township are largely focused on issues affecting the local agricultural industry and public services such as education, housing and transportation. The township is represented by members of both parties in the South Dakota House and Senate who work together to address legislative issues impacting the area. The town currently has no local political candidates as elections for representatives take place at a county level. Residents in Pleasant Valley Township have several opportunities to get involved in local politics through attending meetings or making their voices heard at town hall events throughout the year.
The political climate in Pleasant Valley 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
Pleasant Valley 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.
Pleasant Valley 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 Pleasant Valley township (Clay County), SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 774 contributions totaling $47,390 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $61 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 142 contributions totaling $21,930 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $154 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)