Grafton, located in the state of West Virginia, is a small city with an estimated population of 6,000 people. The local government of Grafton consists of a council-manager system made up of eight elected officials. In this system, the mayor and three members are elected from each ward. The mayor serves as the presiding officer and is responsible for maintaining law and order within the city limits. There are also various committees that consist of local political representatives who ensure that all laws passed by the Grafton City Council are observed and enforced by its citizens.
The politics in Grafton center around issues such as economic development, infrastructure improvement, public safety, health care access, education funding, and environmental protection. Local candidates for office must prioritize these issues to gain support from voters in order to be elected. Additionally, local political representatives actively engage with their constituents to ensure that they understand how their vote will affect the community’s future. Through ongoing dialogue between voters and their representatives, Grafton continues to move forward towards a more prosperous future for its citizens.
The political climate in Grafton, WV is moderately conservative.
Taylor County, WV is very conservative. In Taylor County, WV 24.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 74.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Taylor county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 74.2% to 24.3%.
Taylor county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Grafton, WV is moderately conservative.
Taylor County, West Virginia is very conservative.
Clarksburg Metro Area is very conservative.
West Virginia is very conservative.
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.
Grafton, West 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 Grafton, WV
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 94 contributions totaling $3,596 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $38 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 186 contributions totaling $25,520 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $137 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)