Shawnee County, KS is a prosperous county located in northeastern Kansas. It is home to several vibrant cities such as Topeka, the state capital, and Lawrence. Politically, Shawnee County has been traditionally Democratic leaning. In recent years, the county has become more politically diverse with independent and Republican candidates running for office. Local elections often feature candidates from all major parties competing for seats in city councils and school boards across the county. With an electorate that is increasingly diverse and engaged in politics, Shawnee County is sure to remain a competitive landscape for political candidates in the coming years.
The political climate in Shawnee County, KS is leaning liberal.
In Shawnee County, KS 49.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 47.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Shawnee county flipped Democratic, 49.9% to 47.0%.
Shawnee county flipped Democratic after voting Republican in the previous five Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Shawnee County, KS is leaning liberal.
Topeka Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Kansas is somewhat 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.
Shawnee, Kansas: r r r r r 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 Shawnee County, KS
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 7,695 contributions totaling $613,104 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $80 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,088 contributions totaling $684,672 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $328 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)