Rhea County, TN is an area with a strong sense of local politics. The county is served by an elected five-member County Commission that is the governing body for Rhea County. This commission makes decisions on matters such as taxation, public works, and other local problems. It also has the ability to pass ordinances and levy taxes in order to fund important projects and programs. The County Commission also acts as a liaison between the people of Rhea County and state and federal governments. Every four years, residents of Rhea County come together to elect candidates for the office of county commissioner. These candidates bring with them a variety of backgrounds and perspectives which are essential for making informed decisions on behalf of their constituents. In addition to electing county commissioners, Rhea County holds elections to fill positions on various boards including school boards, health boards, fire districts and more. Local politics in Rhea County are very important because these decisions made can have a huge impact on the everyday lives of its citizens.
The political climate in Rhea County, TN is very conservative.
In Rhea County, TN 17.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 81.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Rhea county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 81.0% to 17.4%.
Rhea county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Rhea County, TN is very conservative.
Dayton Metro Area is very conservative.
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.
Rhea, Tennessee: 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 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 Rhea County, TN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 269 contributions totaling $16,650 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $62 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 210 contributions totaling $47,899 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $228 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)