Lafayette is a small city in Contra Costa County, California with a population of approximately 24,285. It is considered to be the gateway to the East Bay and is located near Orinda and Moraga. Lafayette's politics are heavily influenced by California's state-level politics, with most local elections revolving around state-level issues. While there are some local political candidates that run for office from time to time, the majority of the city's politics focus on bigger issues such as taxes, education, healthcare, and other statewide policies. The local political atmosphere is generally dominated by progressive values which reflect those held by most residents. This sentiment also defines how the Lafayette City Council handles many matters within their jurisdiction.
The political climate in Zip 94549 (Lafayette, CA) is strongly liberal.
Contra Costa County, CA is very liberal. In Contra Costa County, CA 71.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 26.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Contra Costa county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 71.6% to 26.3%.
Contra Costa county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 94549 (Lafayette, CA) is strongly liberal.
Lafayette, California is strongly liberal.
Contra Costa County, California is very liberal.
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley Metro Area is very 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.
Lafayette, California: 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 94549 (Lafayette)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 10,670 contributions totaling $2,998,730 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $281 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,174 contributions totaling $698,453 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $595 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)