Bellingham, Washington is a city located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is known for its vibrant arts scene and green spaces. Politically, Bellingham is a progressive city in Whatcom County that leans heavily left-leaning in both the state legislature and local government offices. The City Council consists of seven members who are elected by residents to serve four-year terms. They focus on providing services to benefit the community and address issues such as affordable housing, public safety, and environmental sustainability. The Mayor presides over Council meetings and serves as a bridge between the community and government officials. Additionally, there are several state representatives from Bellingham who represent the area in Olympia. These representatives work to pass legislation that directly affects Bellingham residents and strive to continue making this beautiful city an example of social progressivism.
The political climate in Bellingham, WA is moderately liberal.
Whatcom County, WA is strongly liberal. In Whatcom County, WA 60.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 36.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Whatcom county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 60.4% to 36.4%.
Whatcom county voted Democratic in the last five Presidential elections, after voting Republican in 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Bellingham, WA is moderately liberal.
Whatcom County, Washington is strongly liberal.
Bellingham Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Washington is moderately 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.
Bellingham, Washington: r 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 Bellingham, WA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 23,150 contributions totaling $2,322,415 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $100 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,382 contributions totaling $341,888 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $247 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)