Laurel County, Kentucky is a rural community in the southeastern part of the state. It is known for its rolling hills and beautiful scenery as well as its strong sense of community. Despite being a small county, the politics in Laurel County are complex and important to its residents. The county is served by numerous elected officials at both local and state levels, with representatives in various positions such as County Judge Executive, Sheriff, and Magistrates. Elections are held every two years for these positions and citizens take part in selecting their leaders. Additionally, Laurel County has active members of political organizations such as the Democratic Party and Republican Party. Through involvement with these groups, residents have a voice on issues that matter to them locally. All of these factors combine to create a vibrant atmosphere of political engagement that is essential to maintaining healthy democracy in Laurel County.
The political climate in Laurel County, KY is very conservative.
In Laurel County, KY 15.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 82.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Laurel county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 82.7% to 15.9%.
Laurel county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Laurel County, KY is very conservative.
London Metro Area is very conservative.
Kentucky is strongly 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.
Laurel, Kentucky: 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 Laurel County, KY
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 218 contributions totaling $290,281 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $1,332 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 265 contributions totaling $94,496 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $357 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)