The politics of 50321 Des Moines, IA are profoundly impacted by the city's population. As of 2019, Des Moines had an estimated population of 216,853 people, making it the most populous city in Iowa and the country's 79th-largest city. Politically, Des Moines is a Democratic stronghold and has been since at least the 1980s presidential election. The current mayor of Des Moines is Frank Cownie who has held office since 2004. The other political offices for this area include: three members of the Iowa House of Representatives Districts 33, 34 and 35; one member of the Iowa Senate District 21; and two members of the US House of Representatives Districts 3 and 4. In addition to those elected positions, there are numerous local government bodies that play roles in affecting policy within 50321 Des Moines, IA. These include school boards, county commissions, planning commissions and a variety of other committees and advisory groups established to address specific issues within this region.
The political climate in Zip 50321 (Des Moines, IA) is somewhat 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 50321 (Des Moines, IA) is somewhat liberal.
Des Moines, Iowa is somewhat 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.
Des Moines, 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 50321 (Des Moines)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,026 contributions totaling $384,161 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $374 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 248 contributions totaling $217,725 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $878 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)