The 51301 Spencer, IA has a long and storied history of political engagement and participation. The city has a mayor-council form of government, with the mayor elected at-large and six council members representing each district of the city. Elections are held every two years for all positions, with the public encouraged to participate in their local democracy by attending City Council meetings and voting for their preferred candidates. In addition to the mayor and City Council, Spencer also elects three county commissioners who work to ensure that services such as road maintenance, health care, law enforcement, and other important areas are adequately addressed in the community. Local activists from both sides of the political aisle strive to ensure that Spencer remains a vibrant place to live with fair representation for all its citizens.
The political climate in Zip 51301 (Spencer, IA) is strongly conservative.
Clay County, IA is very conservative. In Clay County, IA 29.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 68.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Clay county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 68.4% to 29.7%.
Clay county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 51301 (Spencer, IA) is strongly conservative.
Spencer, Iowa is strongly conservative.
Clay County, Iowa is very conservative.
Spencer Metro Area is very conservative.
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.
Spencer, Iowa: r R r R R R
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 51301 (Spencer)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 272 contributions totaling $73,337 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $270 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 188 contributions totaling $36,782 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $196 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)