La Plata County in Colorado has a long history of robust political involvement and engagement. Located in southwestern Colorado, the county is made up of many small towns and cities that are each governed by their own mayor and city council. The La Plata County Board of Commissioners is the governing body for the entirety of La Plata County, and three elected commissioners make up the board. The board is responsible for setting policies, allocating resources, and implementing programs to address issues facing residents. Additionally, they appoint representatives to local advisory committees that provide input on matters like land use planning, economic development, public health services, and recreation. Furthermore, there are several political parties that have representation in La Plata County such as the Democratic Party, Republican Party, Libertarian Party, Green Party, and Constitution Party. Voters in La Plata can participate in local elections by casting ballots for their preferred candidates or initiatives on important issues facing their community.
The political climate in La Plata County, CO is moderately liberal.
In La Plata County, CO 57.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 39.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, La Plata county remained very strongly Democratic, 57.6% to 39.9%.
La Plata county voted Democratic in the last five Presidential elections, after voting Republican in 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
La Plata County, CO is moderately liberal.
Durango Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Colorado is somewhat 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.
La Plata, Colorado: R 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 La Plata County, CO
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 9,230 contributions totaling $719,944 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $78 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,002 contributions totaling $204,778 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $204 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)