Erie County, located in the northwestern part of Pennsylvania, is a vibrant area with plenty of history and culture. Politically speaking, Erie County has elected a variety of candidates over the years who have represented its constituents at the local, state, and national level. Most recently, Democratic Governor Tom Wolf was reelected to serve a second term in 2020. The county is also currently represented by Republican Congressman Mike Kelly at the federal level. In addition to these elected officials, there are many active political organizations and grassroots campaigns throughout the county that are working to ensure that citizens have their voices heard in local government. While politics certainly play a role in Erie's day-to-day life, there is much more to Erie County than just politics – it's also home to a diverse range of businesses, attractions, museums, parks and more!
The political climate in Erie County, PA is leaning liberal.
In Erie County, PA 49.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 48.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Erie county flipped narrowly Democratic, 49.7% to 48.6%.
Erie county flipped back to Democratic in the most recent Presidential election, after voting Republican in 2016.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Erie County, PA is leaning liberal.
Erie Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Pennsylvania 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.
Erie, Pennsylvania: d d D D r 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 Erie County, PA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 6,368 contributions totaling $1,219,001 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $191 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,012 contributions totaling $641,185 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $319 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)