Charlottesville is located in the heart of Virginia's rural Albemarle County. The city is a diverse community with people from all walks of life, including a large number of college students from the nearby University of Virginia. Politically, Charlottesville is considered to be one of the most progressive cities in Virginia, as evidenced by its strong support for liberal candidates and causes. It has been a major force in the state’s statewide Democratic politics, particularly during gubernatorial elections. In recent years, the city has become increasingly vocal on issues such as environmental protection, LGBTQ rights, immigration reform and racial justice. Charlottesville residents have also been active in efforts to promote successful economic development throughout their county.
The political climate in Charlottesville City County, VA is very liberal.
In Charlottesville City County, VA 85.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 12.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Charlottesville city county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 85.5% to 12.8%.
Charlottesville city county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Charlottesville City County, VA is very liberal.
Charlottesville Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Virginia is somewhat 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.
Charlottesville City, Virginia: D D D D D 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 Charlottesville City County, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 12,162 contributions totaling $2,294,162 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $189 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 966 contributions totaling $457,682 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $474 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)