The politics in the Brainerd, MN Metro Area are largely influenced by state and national trends. The area is represented by Collin Peterson in the United States House of Representatives as part of Minnesota's 7th congressional district. Elections for local offices such as mayor, city council, and county commissioners are held regularly so that residents can elect representatives who will represent their interests. The current mayor is Jane Biari, who is running for re-election in 2020. Additionally, the area has seen a number of initiatives on both state and local levels that affect its residents. For example, a recent initiative was focused on improving public transportation in the area through a $2 million investment grant from the state government. This has enabled Brainerd to provide more reliable transportation services to its citizens while also helping to reduce traffic congestion in certain areas.
The political climate in Brainerd Metro Area is strongly conservative.
In Brainerd Metro Area 34.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 63.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Brainerd metro area remained overwhelmingly Republican, 63.8% to 34.3%.
The Brainerd metro area voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Brainerd Metro Area is strongly conservative.
Minnesota 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.
Brainerd, Minnesota: 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Brainerd Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,323 contributions totaling $251,390 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $108 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,237 contributions totaling $402,026 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $325 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)