The city of Ocala, Florida, located in Marion County in the north central part of the state, is governed by a mayor-council form of government. The city has five elected commissioners who serve four-year terms and are responsible for creating ordinances and laws. The mayor serves as the presiding officer at all council meetings and also acts as the city’s chief executive. In addition to these elected officials, there are various appointed officers and boards that help guide the local government. Ocala residents have a number of opportunities to participate in their local politics, whether it's through attending council meetings or participating in local elections. Local elections occur each year for mayor and five commissioner seats. Candidates come from all walks of life, including members of labor unions, business owners, nonprofit organizations and other civic leaders. By becoming involved in local politics, Ocala residents can help shape their community's future.
The political climate in Zip 34471 (Ocala, FL) is moderately conservative.
Marion County, FL is strongly conservative. In Marion County, FL 36.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 62.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Marion county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 62.4% to 36.6%.
Marion county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 34471 (Ocala, FL) is moderately conservative.
Ocala, Florida is moderately conservative.
Marion County, Florida is strongly conservative.
Ocala Metro Area is strongly conservative.
Florida is leaning 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.
Ocala, Florida: 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 34471 (Ocala)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 946 contributions totaling $137,806 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $146 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 603 contributions totaling $316,002 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $524 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)