The city of Mishawaka, IN has a population of 47,400 and is located in St. Joseph County. The city has been represented by Democratic Mayor Dave Wood since 2000. In terms of the local political scene, Mishawaka is home to several local offices that are held by representatives from both major parties. At the state level, the Indiana General Assembly's District 9 is represented by Democrat Ryan Dvorak and Republican Pat Bauer who both serve as House Representatives for the district. On the county level, St. Joseph County's Council District 3 is held by Republican Mark Root while District 6 is held by Democrat James Jr. Masterson. Additionally, the City Council consists of five members with three being Democrats and two being Republicans. There is also a Clerk Treasurer for Mishawaka who is an appointed position currently held by Democrat Terri Rethlake. It is clear that although Mishawaka has traditionally been a majority-Democrat city, it still allows for a diverse representation of political views through its various elected positions and representatives at both local and state levels.
The political climate in Zip 46544 (Mishawaka, IN) is leaning liberal.
St. Joseph County, IN is leaning liberal. In St. Joseph County, IN 52.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 46.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, St. Joseph county remained moderately Democratic, 52.0% to 46.1%.
St. Joseph county voted Democratic in five of the last six Presidential elections (2004 went Republican).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 46544 (Mishawaka, IN) is leaning liberal.
Mishawaka, Indiana is leaning liberal.
St. Joseph County, Indiana is leaning liberal.
South Bend-Mishawaka Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Indiana is somewhat 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.
Mishawaka, Indiana: d 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 46544 (Mishawaka)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 489 contributions totaling $35,800 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $73 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 285 contributions totaling $67,601 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $237 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)