Benton County, TN is located in the southeastern corner of the state and has a population of over 18,000 people. The county has an active political landscape with local elections held every year to choose representatives from various areas in the county. Benton County is represented by a seven-member Commission which meets quarterly to establish budgets and laws for its citizens. The Commissioners are elected by the citizens of the county and serve four year terms in office. The county also elects a mayor, who works with the Commission to ensure that all services are functioning properly and efficiently. Additionally, there are several independent school districts within Benton County, each with their own Board of Education. School board members are chosen through local elections as well and serve four year terms in office. In short, Benton County is an active political environment with many opportunities for citizens to get involved and make a difference within their community.
The political climate in Benton County, TN is very conservative.
In Benton County, TN 21.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 78.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 0.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Benton county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 78.1% to 21.1%.
Benton county voted Republican in the last four Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in 2000 and 2004.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Benton County, TN is very conservative.
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Tennessee is moderately 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.
Benton, Tennessee: D d 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 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 Benton County, TN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 110 contributions totaling $9,120 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $83 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 137 contributions totaling $16,748 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $122 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)