Charleston, West Virginia is the capital of the state and is located in Kanawha County. It is home to a diverse population with many different opinions about local politics. The city has a mayor-council form of government, with a mayor who serves as the chief executive officer and nine council members who are elected from wards throughout the city. The mayor and council set policy for the city, approve budgets, pass ordinances, and appoint members to various boards and commissions. Recently, Charleston has seen an increase in political activism among its citizens as they strive to create a better city for everyone. Many organizations have been formed to advocate for different issues such as public safety, sustainable economic development, and environmental protection. Local candidates are campaigning hard on these issues in order to bring needed change and progress to the community.
The political climate in Charleston, WV is leaning conservative.
Kanawha County, WV is somewhat conservative. In Kanawha County, WV 41.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 56.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kanawha county remained strongly Republican, 56.4% to 41.8%.
Kanawha county voted Republican in the last five Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Charleston, WV is leaning conservative.
Kanawha County, West Virginia is somewhat conservative.
Charleston Metro Area is moderately 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.
Charleston, West Virginia: d 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 Charleston, WV
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 7,619 contributions totaling $1,875,560 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $246 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 3,000 contributions totaling $5,323,216 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,774 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)