Kleberg County, located in South Texas near the Gulf Coast, is known for its diverse communities and unique history. Politically, Kleberg County is a reliably red county at the state level, voting heavily for Republican candidates in recent elections. At the local level, however, voters have been more willing to support candidates from both major parties. In 2019, Kleberg County elected Donna Beach as their first Democratic woman judge in over a century. Judge Beach ran on a platform of criminal justice reform and has since implemented several new policies that have garnered much positive attention from citizens throughout the county. Though Republicans remain dominant in most races here, Democrats like Judge Beach are beginning to gain traction. This election cycle will be an important one for Kleberg County as it could determine if Democrats continue to make gains or if Republicans manage to maintain their stronghold on local politics.
The political climate in Kleberg County, TX is leaning conservative.
In Kleberg County, TX 48.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 50.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kleberg county flipped narrowly Republican, 50.3% to 48.6%.
Kleberg county flipped Republican in the most recent Presidential election, after 2008, 2012 and 2016 went Democractic.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Kleberg County, TX is leaning conservative.
Kingsville Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Texas 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.
Kleberg, Texas: r r d d d 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 Kleberg County, TX
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,262 contributions totaling $36,679 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $29 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 189 contributions totaling $29,841 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $158 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)