The politics of the Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazleton, PA Metro Area are characterized by an active local political scene. There are many elected officials that serve on local governing bodies like borough councils and county commissioners. At the municipal level, important issues include the management of public resources and services, economic development, housing affordability, and infrastructure maintenance. The state government also plays an important role in the region’s politics, with representatives in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate coming from all parts of this tricounty area. Additionally, federal representatives from this region regularly participate in debates at the national level on a variety of topics including taxes, education reform, health care reform, and environmental protection. With such a diverse range of interests being represented by elected officials at each level of government, it is safe to say that politics in the Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazleton Metro Area remain as vibrant as ever.
The political climate in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre Metro Area is leaning conservative.
In Scranton--Wilkes-Barre Metro Area 46.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 52.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazleton metro area remained moderately Republican, 52.8% to 46.0%.
The Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazleton metro area voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previ.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Pennsylvania 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.
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: D d D D 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 Scranton--Wilkes-Barre Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 14,435 contributions totaling $3,510,698 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $243 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 4,835 contributions totaling $2,325,506 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $481 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)