Howard County is located in Maryland and has a diverse political landscape. The county is predominantly Democratic, with an active set of Republican and independent candidates as well. Local politics in Howard County are impacted by the state government on many issues due to certain laws and regulations. There are several local officeholders that work hard to serve their constituents and promote important policies concerning education, public safety, health care, economic development, transportation, and the environment. Historically, government corruption has been minimal in Howard County which is a testament to the professionalism of elected officials and their dedication to serving the people in their community. Each election cycle brings new faces to local politics as citizens go out to vote for the candidates that they feel will best represent them.
The political climate in Howard County, MD is very liberal.
In Howard County, MD 70.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 26.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Howard county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 70.7% to 26.4%.
Howard county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Howard County, MD is very liberal.
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Maryland is very 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.
Howard, Maryland: 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 for the Democrat and I for the Independent. 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 Howard County, MD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 33,224 contributions totaling $4,986,738 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $150 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 4,268 contributions totaling $2,908,076 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $681 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)