Gilchrist County, Florida is a beautiful and vibrant area located in the northern portion of the state. With respect to politics, the county is governed by a five-member board of commissioners who are elected at-large for four year terms. The current chairman is Thomas Sampson, who has been serving in this capacity since 2017. The Board of County Commissioners makes decisions regarding tax rates, zoning regulations, public safety issues, and spending strategies that affect residents throughout the county. In addition to governing the county directly, members are also responsible for appointing various government representatives such as judges, directors of county departments, and advisory boards that work on behalf of their constituents. Voters in Gilchrist county have a variety of ways to stay informed about local politics and make their voices heard through participatory voting opportunities like early voting or mailed absentee ballots. It's clear that this community takes its civic duties seriously and works hard to ensure all citizens have access to fair representation and effective governance.
The political climate in Gilchrist County, FL is very conservative.
In Gilchrist County, FL 17.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 81.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Gilchrist county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 81.4% to 17.5%.
Gilchrist county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Gilchrist County, FL is very conservative.
Gainesville Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Florida is leaning 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.
Gilchrist, Florida: 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 Gilchrist County, FL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 101 contributions totaling $10,340 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $102 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 92 contributions totaling $26,408 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $287 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)