The politics of Orleans Parish, Louisiana, are an integral part of the landscape in New Orleans and the surrounding area. The parish is represented by five members of the Louisiana State Senate and six members of the Louisiana House of Representatives. On the local level, leadership is provided by the mayor-council form of government as well as by various boards and appointed officials. The City Council oversees all business operations in New Orleans and has a significant presence in governing the city's future direction. Major political issues in Orleans Parish include improving infrastructure, crime prevention, economic development, transportation planning, affordable housing and public health initiatives. Many local organizations work to engage citizens on these topics and to ensure that residents’ voices are heard at City Hall.
The political climate in Orleans County, LA is very liberal.
In Orleans County, LA 83.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 15.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Orleans parish remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 83.1% to 15.0%.
Orleans county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Orleans County, LA is very liberal.
New Orleans-Metairie Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Louisiana is moderately 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.
Orleans, Louisiana: D D D D D 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 Orleans County, LA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 26,895 contributions totaling $4,602,478 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $171 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 4,615 contributions totaling $6,571,886 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,424 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)