Virginia Beach, VA is a vibrant city located on the coast of Virginia. As the most populous city in the state, it plays an important role in local politics. The City Council, which is composed of 11 members who are each elected by the citizens of Virginia Beach for four year terms, is responsible for setting policy and managing the various city services. Furthermore, two representatives from Virginia Beach serve in the Virginia General Assembly, where they help to shape state laws that affect all Virginians. In addition, every two years residents from Virginia Beach elect one member to represent them in Congress as part of Virginia’s delegation to Washington DC. With such an active political arena at both local and state level, Virginia Beach offers its citizens many opportunities to have their voices heard through voting for their preferred candidates or initiatives during elections.
The political climate in Virginia Beach, VA is leaning liberal.
Virginia Beach City County, VA is leaning liberal. In Virginia Beach City County, VA 51.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 46.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Virginia Beach city county flipped moderately Democratic, 51.6% to 46.2%.
Virginia Beach city county flipped Democratic after voting Republican in the previous five Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Virginia Beach, VA is leaning liberal.
Virginia Beach City County, Virginia is leaning liberal.
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News Metro Area is moderately liberal.
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.
Virginia Beach, Virginia: R R r r r 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 Virginia Beach, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 12,437 contributions totaling $2,660,229 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $214 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 6,526 contributions totaling $2,819,141 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $432 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)