Ankeny, IA is located in Polk County and is a thriving suburb of Des Moines. It is home to a variety of business and has an expanding population. The city's political landscape is largely dominated by the Republican party, as evidenced by the election results of 2016 which saw the county vote overwhelmingly for Donald Trump. However, there are also several important local politicians working in the area that have made significant contributions to its growth and development. Mayor Gary Lorenz was elected in 2019 and has been a strong advocate for economic diversification and responsible budgeting. The two members of the Iowa House of Representatives who serve Ankeny are Republican Jake Highfill and Democrat Lisa Heddens, both of whom have advocated on behalf of their constituents while working to maintain fiscal responsibility within state government. As Ankeny continues to grow, it will be interesting to see how its political landscape continues to evolve.
The political climate in Zip 50023 (Ankeny, IA) is leaning liberal.
Polk County, IA is somewhat liberal. In Polk County, IA 56.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Polk county remained very strongly Democratic, 56.5% to 41.3%.
Polk county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 50023 (Ankeny, IA) is leaning liberal.
Ankeny, Iowa is leaning liberal.
Polk County, Iowa is somewhat liberal.
Des Moines-West Des Moines Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Iowa 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.
Ankeny, Iowa: 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 50023 (Ankeny)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 989 contributions totaling $122,634 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $124 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 516 contributions totaling $145,358 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $282 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)