Gallatin County, Montana is home to a diverse political landscape. With populations reaching up to an estimated 109,244 people in 2018, the county features a variety of local elected officials who work diligently on behalf of their constituents. The county has two state senators and one state representative currently serving in the Montana State Senate and House of Representatives respectively. Additionally, Gallatin County also has many boards and commissions that involve individuals at the local level looking to influence public policy decisions in areas such as land use planning, natural resource conservation, economic development and more. Furthermore, each city within Gallatin County features its own mayor and city council members who are responsible for making decisions regarding their respective municipality. With so many voices represented within Gallatin County politics, residents are able to have their voices heard on an array of issues that affect them directly.
The political climate in Gallatin County, MT is leaning liberal.
In Gallatin County, MT 52.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 44.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Gallatin county remained moderately Democratic, 52.2% to 44.6%.
Gallatin county voted Democratic in 2020, 2016 and 2008, and voted Republican in 2012, 2004 and 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Gallatin County, MT is leaning liberal.
Bozeman Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Montana 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.
Gallatin, Montana: R R d r 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 Gallatin County, MT
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 17,935 contributions totaling $2,234,322 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $125 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,718 contributions totaling $2,886,966 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,062 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)