Kent County, Rhode Island is a vibrant area with a strong sense of community. The county is comprised of several towns and cities, each with its own unique political structure. Politically, Kent County offers a wide range of voices and opinions. At the local level, citizens elect representatives to serve on their town councils or school boards. These locally elected representatives are responsible for making decisions that affect their communities. At the state level, two senators from Rhode Island represent Kent County in the General Assembly. This allows residents to have a voice in state politics as well as share their concerns with their elected representatives in the Capitol building in Providence. Additionally, Kent County citizens vote for various statewide officials such as the governor and attorney general during election years. On Election Day, Kent County voters also decide on important ballot measures that can affect the entire state of Rhode Island. With so many outlets for expression and debate, politics in Kent County offer citizens an array of platforms to make their voices heard and ultimately shape the future of their communities.
The political climate in Kent County, RI is leaning liberal.
In Kent County, RI 52.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 45.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kent county flipped moderately Democratic, 52.8% to 45.1%.
Kent county flipped back to Democratic in the most recent Presidential election, after voting Republican in 2016.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Kent County, RI is leaning liberal.
Providence-Warwick Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Rhode Island 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.
Kent, Rhode Island: 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 Kent County, RI
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 7,469 contributions totaling $1,154,793 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $155 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,148 contributions totaling $428,495 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $373 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)