Olympia, WA, the capital of Washington State, is a bustling city with a rich political history. As home to the state government, it serves as an important center for politics in the region. The city is governed by a Mayor-Council form of government and each May citizens of Olympia elect their municipal leaders. With numerous local issues and initiatives to consider, such as taxes, infrastructure development, and public safety, voters are given the opportunity to make their voices heard. While Olympia’s mayor is elected directly by popular vote every four years, other city council members are chosen from districts determined by population size. With the numerous issues facing Olympia today, local residents take great pride in having a say in who leads their community and how issues are addressed.
The political climate in Olympia, WA is somewhat liberal.
Thurston County, WA is moderately liberal. In Thurston County, WA 57.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 38.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Thurston county remained very strongly Democratic, 57.5% to 38.8%.
Thurston county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Olympia, WA is somewhat liberal.
Thurston County, Washington is moderately liberal.
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater Metro Area is moderately 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.
Olympia, Washington: 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 Olympia, WA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 27,298 contributions totaling $2,014,690 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $74 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,599 contributions totaling $541,132 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $208 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)