The city of San Luis Obispo, CA is located in the heart of the central coast and is home to a population of about 47,000 residents. The city prides itself on being politically engaged, with numerous initiatives and organizations that promote civic involvement and social justice. San Luis Obispo's government is broken down into a Mayor-Council form of government, where the mayor acts as the chief executive officer for the city and presides over City Council meetings. The City Council is made up of seven members who are elected at-large by San Luis Obispo voters every two years. Every council member serves a four-year term. Currently there are several candidates running for Mayor and City Council in 2021 including incumbent Mayor Heidi Harmon, challenger Steve Schott, incumbent Carlyn Christianson, challenger Christopher Bausch, incumbent Andy Pease, incumbent Aaron Gomez and newcomer David Romero Herrada. These candidates represent different views on how to create a more equitable future for all San Luis Obispo residents and continue to make the community stronger and more vibrant through their commitment to public service.
The political climate in Zip 93405 (San Luis Obispo, CA) is somewhat liberal.
San Luis Obispo County, CA is somewhat liberal. In San Luis Obispo County, CA 55.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 42.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, San Luis Obispo county remained strongly Democratic, 55.3% to 42.2%.
San Luis Obispo county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 93405 (San Luis Obispo, CA) is somewhat liberal.
San Luis Obispo, California is somewhat liberal.
San Luis Obispo County, California is somewhat liberal.
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
California is strongly 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.
San Luis Obispo, California: R r 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 zip 93405 (San Luis Obispo)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 4,797 contributions totaling $252,484 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $53 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 318 contributions totaling $64,570 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $203 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)