Portsmouth, VA is located in the 23701 zip code and its politics are largely determined by the city government. The City of Portsmouth operates under a Mayor-Council form of government, with an elected mayor serving as the executive branch and an elected City Council acting as the legislative branch. The current Mayor is Shannon Glover and the City Council consists of seven members representing various districts within the city. Both are responsible for creating laws and policies that guide the city’s growth and development. Additionally, residents also have representation on the state level through their local Virginia General Assembly delegates and senators. These representatives bring issues facing Portsmouth to Richmond while advocating for their constituents throughout their terms in office. Overall, Portsmouth's politics are driven by both local and state officials who strive to ensure that all residents are represented fairly and equitably.
The political climate in Zip 23701 (Portsmouth, VA) is strongly liberal.
Portsmouth City County, VA is very liberal. In Portsmouth City County, VA 69.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 28.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Portsmouth city county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 69.4% to 28.6%.
Portsmouth city county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 23701 (Portsmouth, VA) is strongly liberal.
Portsmouth, Virginia is strongly liberal.
Portsmouth City County, Virginia is very liberal.
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Virginia is somewhat 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.
Portsmouth, Virginia: 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 23701 (Portsmouth)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 231 contributions totaling $41,739 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $181 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 71 contributions totaling $6,707 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $94 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)