The politics in Staunton, VA are vibrant and involve a wide range of issues. The City Council makes important decisions that affect the city’s infrastructure, economic development, and quality of life. Each election season brings out local candidates who are passionate about making a difference in their community. With topics like education, public safety, housing affordability, and economic development at the forefront of the conversation, there is plenty for residents to discuss and debate when it comes to politics in Staunton. Residents also take part in local grassroots campaigns for causes they care about and attend rallies to show their support for important issues. Despite its relatively small size, Staunton has an engaged citizenry that takes its responsibility as citizens seriously.
The political climate in Staunton, VA is leaning liberal.
Staunton City County, VA is somewhat liberal. In Staunton City County, VA 53.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 43.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Staunton city county remained moderately Democratic, 53.7% to 43.8%.
Staunton city county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Staunton, VA is leaning liberal.
Staunton City County, Virginia is somewhat liberal.
Staunton Metro Area is strongly 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.
Staunton, Virginia: R R 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 Staunton, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,667 contributions totaling $181,835 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $50 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 869 contributions totaling $108,882 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $125 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)