Cedar Rapids, Iowa is a city of approximately 130,000 people located in the eastern part of the state. Politically, it leans Democratic. The current mayor of Cedar Rapids is Brad Hart, who was first elected in 2017. He is running for re-election in 2021 and faces challenges from independents Gary Hinzman and Aaron Dodd. Other local offices are also held by Democrats, such as City Council members Eric Turner and Susie Weinacht. Cedar Rapids has traditionally been a progressive city in terms of policy proposals and initiatives that benefit its citizens. In recent years, efforts have been made to address issues such as housing affordability and economic development downtown. Additionally, the city is an advocate for sustainability and has recently implemented initiatives that reduce energy consumption and promote the use of renewable energy sources.
The political climate in Zip 52411 (Cedar Rapids, IA) is leaning liberal.
Linn County, IA is somewhat liberal. In Linn County, IA 55.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Linn county remained strongly Democratic, 55.6% to 41.9%.
Linn county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 52411 (Cedar Rapids, IA) is leaning liberal.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa is leaning liberal.
Linn County, Iowa is somewhat liberal.
Cedar Rapids Metro Area is leaning 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.
Cedar Rapids, 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 52411 (Cedar Rapids)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 518 contributions totaling $68,528 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $132 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 274 contributions totaling $111,858 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $408 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)