Bakersfield, California is the ninth largest city in the state and located in Kern County. It is a politically engaged community where citizens have the opportunity to engage with their local representatives and advocate for change. With about 361,000 residents, Bakersfield is represented by several elected officials on the federal, state, and local levels. The city's mayor is Karen Goh and she along with her team of council members are actively engaged with the community to develop policies that ensure Bakersfield's growth and development. Additionally, there are two congressional districts represented by David Valadao (R-CA 21st) and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA 23rd). At the state level, there are four senators representing Bakersfield: Melissa Hurtado (D-14th District), Anna Caballero (D-12th District), Shannon Grove (R-16th District), and Jean Fuller (R-18th District). Finally, Kern County residents are also served by seven Assembly Members: Rudy Salas Jr., Vince Fong, Chad Mayes, Tom Lackey, Luz Rivas, Adam Gray; as well as Senator Andreas Borgeas. In conclusion, politics in 93309 Bakersfield involves many different representatives on various levels who work together to ensure the city's growth and development.
The political climate in Zip 93309 (Bakersfield, CA) is leaning conservative.
Kern County, CA is somewhat conservative. In Kern County, CA 43.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 53.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kern county remained strongly Republican, 53.9% to 43.7%.
Kern county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 93309 (Bakersfield, CA) is leaning conservative.
Bakersfield, California is leaning conservative.
Kern County, California is somewhat conservative.
Bakersfield Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
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.
Bakersfield, California: R R R R 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 three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in zip 93309 (Bakersfield)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,134 contributions totaling $78,752 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $69 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,073 contributions totaling $805,253 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $750 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)