Houston, MN County is located in the southeast corner of Minnesota and is home to a vibrant political scene. It is part of a larger metropolitan area that includes St. Paul and Minneapolis. The county seat of Houston is the city of La Crosse which serves as an important regional center for government, commerce, culture, and education. Local politics in Houston are conducted by the Houston County Commissioners who oversee the county's budget and other financial matters. The Commissioners are elected by local residents every two years and serve two-year terms. Other important figures in local politics include mayors from each of the cities within Houston County and representatives from each legislative district in the state of Minnesota. Each election cycle brings new faces to local office as well as an opportunity for citizens to make their voices heard on important issues facing their communities.
The political climate in Houston County, MN is somewhat conservative.
In Houston County, MN 42.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 55.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Houston county remained strongly Republican, 55.4% to 42.4%.
Houston county voted Republican in four of the six previous Presidential elections (2008 and 2012 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Houston County, MN is somewhat conservative.
La Crosse-Onalaska Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Minnesota is leaning 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.
Houston, Minnesota: r r D d 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 Houston County, MN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 229 contributions totaling $15,015 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $66 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 133 contributions totaling $33,929 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $255 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)