Gainesville, FL is a vibrant city in the heart of Alachua county. It has a rich history and is known for its diverse population, cultural attractions, and educational opportunities. Politically, 32608 Gainesville, FL is largely democratic with a majority of residents voting blue in recent elections. The city's mayor is Lauren Poe, who was elected in 2015 as the first African-American to hold this position and was reelected in 2019. Additionally, there are seven city commissioners who are also members of the Democratic party representing different districts within Gainesville. Every two years these commissioners need to be reelected and they work together to ensure that the needs of their constituents are met while working towards maintaining a productive economy and providing essential services to the citizens of Gainesville. The current city commissioners include Gigi Simmons, Harvey Ward Jr., Gail Johnson, Adrian Hayes-Santos, Todd Chase, David Arreola, and Helen Warren. All of them have been actively involved in advocating for issues such as education reform, economic growth initiatives, and public safety improvements throughout Gainesville.
The political climate in Zip 32608 (Gainesville, FL) is moderately liberal.
Alachua County, FL is strongly liberal. In Alachua County, FL 62.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 35.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Alachua county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 62.7% to 35.6%.
Alachua county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 32608 (Gainesville, FL) is moderately liberal.
Gainesville, Florida is moderately liberal.
Alachua County, Florida is strongly liberal.
Gainesville Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Florida is leaning 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.
Gainesville, Florida: 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 zip 32608 (Gainesville)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 4,265 contributions totaling $454,883 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $107 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 598 contributions totaling $212,920 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $356 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)