Berkeley County, West Virginia is located in the eastern part of the state. It has a population of 104,169 and is the second most populous county in West Virginia. The political landscape of Berkeley County is dominated at all levels by the Democratic Party, which holds a majority in both the state legislature and executive offices. At the local level, elections for county supervisors are held every four years and are non-partisan races. Voters have elected Democrats to these offices since 2000. Local politics also involve input from mayors, town councils, school boards, and other decision-making groups that can shape policy decisions at a local level. Berkeley County residents also participate in larger statewide elections for governor and federal representatives such as U.S Congressmen and Senators. The state's primary election is typically held in May with general elections being held in November of each year. Overall, Berkeley County residents are actively involved in politics across all levels to ensure their voices are heard within their communities and across the state of West Virginia as a whole.
The political climate in Berkeley County, WV is strongly conservative.
In Berkeley County, WV 33.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 64.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Berkeley county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 64.6% to 33.3%.
Berkeley county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Berkeley County, WV is strongly conservative.
Hagerstown-Martinsburg Metro Area is strongly conservative.
West Virginia is very 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.
Berkeley, West Virginia: 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 Berkeley County, WV
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,179 contributions totaling $134,685 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $62 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 839 contributions totaling $185,491 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $221 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)