Dutchess County, located in the heart of New York, is home to a variety of different political interests. In 2018, the county elected an all-Democratic Board of Legislators, with Gregg Pulver as Chairman. This board is responsible for passing legislation that impacts all aspects of life in Dutchess County. Among their responsibilities include setting local taxes, regional transportation and development policies, and appointing officials to various county departments. In addition to this board, Dutchess County also has a representative in the United States House of Representatives – Sean Patrick Maloney – who serves on several congressional committees that focus on issues such as defense, homeland security, veterans affairs and financial services. Furthermore, Dutchess County residents can get involved in local politics by participating in state and local elections. These elections are held every two years and allow citizens to select representatives to serve them at the state level and determine important issues that will be addressed on a local level.
The political climate in Dutchess County, NY is somewhat liberal.
In Dutchess County, NY 53.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 44.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Dutchess county remained moderately Democratic, 53.9% to 44.3%.
Dutchess county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Dutchess County, NY is somewhat liberal.
New York-Newark-Jersey City Metro Area is strongly liberal.
New York is moderately 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.
Dutchess, New York: 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 Dutchess County, NY
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 30,448 contributions totaling $12,887,064 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $423 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 3,708 contributions totaling $1,244,715 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $336 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)