The city of Waukegan, IL is located in Lake County and has a population of over 88,000 people. It is the ninth largest city in Illinois and is governed by a City Mayor and nine council members who are elected for four year terms. The mayor’s office and city council oversee the operations of the city, which include the police and fire departments, public works, parks and recreation services, economic development office and many other departments. Political issues in Waukegan include community safety, infrastructure improvements, job creation, business retention and expansion, neighborhood revitalization efforts, educational opportunities and social services. Local political candidates offer their solutions to these issues as they seek election to office. Candidates must address important local concerns like crime reduction initiatives as well as broader topics such as affordable housing options or public transportation investments. While local candidates may differ on specific policies they must all be able to demonstrate their commitment to serving the citizens of Waukegan through effective leadership.
The political climate in Zip 60085 (Waukegan, IL) is moderately liberal.
Lake County, IL is strongly liberal. In Lake County, IL 60.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 36.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Lake county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 60.8% to 36.8%.
Lake county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 60085 (Waukegan, IL) is moderately liberal.
Waukegan, Illinois is moderately liberal.
Lake County, Illinois is strongly liberal.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin Metro Area is very liberal.
Illinois is moderately 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.
Waukegan, Illinois: 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 60085 (Waukegan)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 838 contributions totaling $156,056 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $186 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 194 contributions totaling $84,372 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $435 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)