The politics in San Rafael, CA are diverse and ever-changing. Located in Marin County, San Rafael is the county seat and one of the larger cities in northern California. It is home to a variety of political entities that include City Council, a Mayoral Office, the Marin County Board of Supervisors, and various special districts within the city limits such as water, fire, sewer and library districts. The City Council is composed of seven members elected every two years by the citizens of San Rafael for four year terms. The Mayor serves as the head of government and has both legislating and executive power. Additionally, the Marin County Board of Supervisors meet regularly to discuss issues affecting San Rafael's population such as housing affordability or transportation projects. All these political bodies work together to ensure San Rafael remains an inclusive place with strong economic opportunities for its residents.
The political climate in Zip 94901 (San Rafael, CA) is strongly liberal.
Marin County, CA is very liberal. In Marin County, CA 82.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 15.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Marin county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 82.3% to 15.8%.
Marin county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 94901 (San Rafael, CA) is strongly liberal.
San Rafael, California is strongly liberal.
Marin 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.
San Rafael, 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 94901 (San Rafael)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 14,217 contributions totaling $1,689,112 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $119 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,309 contributions totaling $344,032 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $263 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)