Stephenson County is located in northern Illinois and is home to a diverse population. It has an active political landscape which includes both local and state representatives. The county is part of the 17th Congressional District, represented by Republican Adam Kinzinger. At the state level, the county is served by Senator Dave Syverson and Representative Jeff Keicher from the 69th District. On the local level, Stephenson County elects a Board of Commissioners along with a host of other elected positions such as Sheriff, Clerk, State’s Attorney, Assessor and Coroner. In addition to these offices, citizens of Stephenson County can vote for village boards for each municipality within the county. All of these elected officials work together to ensure that county residents have access to basic services and quality programs.
The political climate in Stephenson County, IL is somewhat conservative.
In Stephenson County, IL 41.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 56.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Stephenson county remained very strongly Republican, 56.6% to 41.0%.
Stephenson county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Stephenson County, IL is somewhat conservative.
Freeport Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
Illinois is moderately 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.
Stephenson, Illinois: 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 Stephenson County, IL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,110 contributions totaling $108,898 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $98 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 371 contributions totaling $64,660 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $174 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)