Coos County, Oregon is located on the Southwestern coast of the state and is home to a diverse population. Politically, the county is overwhelmingly Democratic with over 70% of registered voters belonging to the party. The Democratic Party has a strong hold on the county's politics, as evidenced by their prominent representation in local government positions. The current Sheriff of Coos County is Sheriff Craig Zanni who was elected in 2011 as a Democrat and runs an office that enforces laws across the county. Local elections are also heavily dominated by Democrats, with candidates from previous years such as Owen Taylor, Eamon Bishop, and John Dupuis having won strong margins in past races. Both state and national representatives for Coos County are Democratic too, including Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici who was first elected to represent Oregon’s 1st Congressional District in 2012. With its largely liberal base of voters and overwhelming support for Democrats in local politics, Coos County continues to be a stronghold for progressive values in Oregon politics.
The political climate in Coos County, OR is moderately conservative.
In Coos County, OR 38.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 58.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Coos county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 58.9% to 38.4%.
Coos county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Coos County, OR is moderately conservative.
Coos Bay Metro Area is moderately conservative.
Oregon 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.
Coos, Oregon: 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 Coos County, OR
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 5,095 contributions totaling $252,836 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $50 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 974 contributions totaling $128,959 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $132 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)