Olmsted County in Minnesota is home to a diverse range of political views. The county has seen many changes over the years, but the local government still reflects a mix of traditional and progressive ideals. The Olmsted County Board of Commissioners is composed of six members from across the county, elected by popular vote. All six members are expected to work together to represent the interests of all citizens and provide services that will benefit everyone in the community. The county also contains some smaller cities and towns with their own local governments and respective leaders who make decisions about how best serve their constituents. From the smallest town to the largest city, all cities within Olmsted County strive to provide responsible and effective government leadership for all residents.
The political climate in Olmsted County, MN is somewhat liberal.
In Olmsted County, MN 54.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 43.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Olmsted county remained strongly Democratic, 54.2% to 43.4%.
Olmsted county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Olmsted County, MN is somewhat liberal.
Rochester Metro Area is leaning conservative.
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.
Olmsted, Minnesota: r r 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 Olmsted County, MN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 9,122 contributions totaling $726,122 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $80 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,068 contributions totaling $531,154 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $257 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)