Watonwan County, Minnesota is a rural county located in the south-central part of the state. It is home to approximately 11,000 residents and covers an area of 583 square miles. The county operates with a five-member board of commissioners, who are each elected at large to serve four year terms. In addition, Watonwan County has several city councils and townships that provide local government services and representation. Recently, there have been some changes in local politics as the increasing population has demanded more attention to issues such as public infrastructure and education funding. At the national level, Watonwan County is represented by Senator Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Representatives Angie Craig and Jim Hagedorn in Congress. As citizens of Watonwan become more engaged in their local politics, they are sure to continue making changes that will improve the quality of life for all its residents.
The political climate in Watonwan County, MN is moderately conservative.
In Watonwan County, MN 38.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 59.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Watonwan county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 59.7% to 38.2%.
Watonwan county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Watonwan County, MN is moderately conservative.
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Minnesota is leaning 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.
Watonwan, Minnesota: r r d 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 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 Watonwan County, MN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 117 contributions totaling $6,851 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $59 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 104 contributions totaling $14,763 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $142 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)