Modesto, California is a city located in Stanislaus County in the northern San Joaquin Valley. It is an integral part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Stanislaus County. Moderately sized with a population of around 212,000 people, Modesto is renowned for its rich agricultural heritage and has long been home to some of California's most productive farms and ranches. Politically, Modesto falls within the 27th Congressional district and is represented by Democrat Josh Harder in the House of Representatives. Locally they are served by a seven-member City Council who are elected to four year terms on a non-partisan basis. The current mayor is Ted Brandvold, who was re-elected to his second term in 2018. In addition to this there are numerous other opportunities for local political engagement through various community organizations such as neighborhood councils and watchdog groups.
The political climate in Zip 95351 (Modesto, CA) is leaning liberal.
Stanislaus County, CA is leaning liberal. In Stanislaus County, CA 49.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 48.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Stanislaus county remained narrowly Democratic, 49.0% to 48.2%.
Stanislaus county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 95351 (Modesto, CA) is leaning liberal.
Modesto, California is leaning liberal.
Stanislaus County, California is leaning liberal.
Modesto Metro Area is leaning 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.
Modesto, California: 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 95351 (Modesto)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 590 contributions totaling $60,778 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $103 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 86 contributions totaling $11,290 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $131 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)