Clay County, Iowa is located in the Northwestern part of the state and is known for its small-town charm. The county has numerous local government entities which fulfill vital roles within the community, including law enforcement, education, recreation, and economic development. There are also a variety of political parties represented in Clay County with different candidates running for offices at the city, county and state level. The campaigns in Clay County are often competitive and closely contested as citizens come out to support their favorite candidates on Election Day. Political activity in Clay County is diverse and actively engaged with people from all backgrounds striving to make an impact on their community through the democratic process.
The political climate in Clay County, IA is very conservative.
In Clay County, IA 29.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 68.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Clay county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 68.4% to 29.7%.
Clay county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Clay County, IA is very conservative.
Spencer Metro Area is very conservative.
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.
Clay, Iowa: 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 Clay County, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 293 contributions totaling $74,234 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $253 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 199 contributions totaling $41,162 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $207 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)