Dare County is located in the coastal region of North Carolina and is home to a diverse population. The county's government is made up of an elected Board of Commissioners representing each of the seven towns and unincorporated parts of Dare County. The towns are Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, Manteo, and Wanchese. Each town has its own mayor and town council who are responsible for the governance and public welfare of the community. In addition to the elected officials, there are many dedicated individuals who serve on boards and committees in Dare County that provide advice and recommendations to the commissioners on matters related to economic development, land use planning, public safety, human services, tourism promotion, recreation programs, environmental protection initiatives, education policy decisions, and more. There is no single candidate running for office in Dare County; rather individuals come forward as representatives of their communities or run as part of a slate of candidates. Through this process a wide range of perspectives from all walks of life can be heard in county government decisions.
The political climate in Dare County, NC is moderately conservative.
In Dare County, NC 41.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 57.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Dare county remained very strongly Republican, 57.5% to 41.0%.
Dare county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Dare County, NC is moderately conservative.
Kill Devil Hills Metro Area is moderately conservative.
North Carolina is leaning 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.
Dare, North Carolina: R R r R 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 Dare County, NC
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,753 contributions totaling $288,563 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $165 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 518 contributions totaling $156,013 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $301 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)