Bessemer, AL is a vibrant city located in the greater Birmingham metropolitan area in Jefferson County. It is home to approximately 27,000 residents and spans over 15.6 square miles. Politically, Bessemer has been represented by Demoratic representatives in the state legislature since the 1960s. The city is represented at the state level by Senator Rodger Smitherman and Representatives Merika Coleman and Rod Scott. At the county level, Bessemer is overseen by Commissioners Sheila Tyson, Joe Knight, Steve Ammons, Lashunda Scales and David Carrington. At the local government level, Bessemer voters elect their mayor and City Council members every four years. The current Mayor of Bessemer is Kenneth Gulley, who was elected in 2020 along with City Council members Hazel Fournier-McKenzie, Willie Hardley Jr., Erica Pugh and Henry Tyson Jr. All of these representatives strive to ensure that Bessemer remains a safe and dynamic city for all its citizens.
The political climate in Zip 35020 (Bessemer, AL) is somewhat liberal.
Jefferson County, AL is somewhat liberal. In Jefferson County, AL 55.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 42.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Jefferson county remained strongly Democratic, 55.8% to 42.6%.
Jefferson county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 35020 (Bessemer, AL) is somewhat liberal.
Bessemer, Alabama is somewhat liberal.
Jefferson County, Alabama is somewhat liberal.
Birmingham-Hoover Metro Area is moderately conservative.
Alabama is strongly 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.
Bessemer, Alabama: 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 35020 (Bessemer)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 169 contributions totaling $9,256 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $55 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 13 contributions totaling $1,468 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $113 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)