Clayton County, Iowa is home to a vibrant and active political community. The county provides citizens with numerous opportunities to become involved in local politics and make sure their voices are heard. Local elections occur every two years, and citizens can get involved by participating in the voting process, attending public forums, or running for office themselves. The county is represented by two state senators who serve two-year terms and two house representatives who serve four-year terms. In addition, the county utilizes an elected three-member board of supervisors to manage its affairs. Clayton County also has a number of local offices such as sheriff, auditor, treasurer, recorder, attorney, and more that are all voted on by the residents of Clayton County. With so many ways available for citizens to become involved in local politics and shape their community’s future, Clayton County is certainly an active part of the political landscape in Iowa.
The political climate in Clayton County, IA is strongly conservative.
In Clayton County, IA 34.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 63.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Clayton county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 63.6% to 34.8%.
Clayton county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Clayton County, IA is strongly conservative.
Not Found Metro Area is 0.
Iowa 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.
Clayton, Iowa: d d D d 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 Clayton County, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 431 contributions totaling $66,774 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $155 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 360 contributions totaling $68,842 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $191 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)