Richlands, VA is a small town located in Tazewell County in the Appalachian Mountains region of Southwest Virginia. Richlands is known for its close-knit community and rural atmosphere, and its residents take pride in their local politics. The town elects a mayor and four council members to serve on the Town Council, which are responsible for many decisions that affect the citizens of Richlands such as tax rates, zoning regulations, infrastructure improvements, public safety initiatives, and more. Additionally, the citizens of Richlands often participate in state elections to vote on important matters such as changes to Virginia’s laws and policies. In general, Richlands residents take an active role in shaping their local government and expressing their opinions on issues that impact the community.
The political climate in Richlands, VA is moderately conservative.
Tazewell County, VA is very conservative. In Tazewell County, VA 15.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 83.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Tazewell county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 83.1% to 15.9%.
Tazewell county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Richlands, VA is moderately conservative.
Tazewell County, Virginia is very conservative.
Bluefield Metro Area is very conservative.
Virginia is somewhat liberal.
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.
Richlands, Virginia: 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 Richlands, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 85 contributions totaling $5,523 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $65 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 99 contributions totaling $43,091 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $435 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)