Hampshire County, Massachusetts is a part of western Massachusetts, located in the heart of the Pioneer Valley. It is home to several small towns and villages with a combined population of about 160,000 people. Politically, Hampshire County follows the trend of the rest of Massachusetts, leaning towards more progressive policies than many other parts of the country. Several prominent local political figures have held office in the county, including current US Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Congressman Richard Neal. Local elections are often hotly contested between candidates from both major parties, as well as third party candidates. In addition to state and national representatives, Hampshire County also elects officials for county government positions such as Sheriff and District Attorney. Residents take great pride in their county and its rich political history.
The political climate in Hampshire County, MA is very liberal.
In Hampshire County, MA 72.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 25.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Hampshire county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 72.1% to 25.4%.
Hampshire county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Hampshire County, MA is very liberal.
Springfield Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Massachusetts is very liberal.
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.
Hampshire, Massachusetts: 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 Hampshire County, MA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 42,721 contributions totaling $3,463,770 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $81 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,126 contributions totaling $207,509 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $184 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)