The small town of Van Meter, IA (Zip Code 50261) is located in Dallas County and is part of Iowa's 4th congressional district. It has a long history rooted in agriculture, as well as other industries like manufacturing and construction. In terms of government, the town is governed by a mayor and city council members who are elected by the residents every four years. The local government also includes a police force and fire department that help to maintain public safety for all its citizens. Additionally, the federal government also has an influence on the town’s politics due to its representative in Congress. Currently, Congressman Steve King represents the people of Van Meter in Washington D.C., where he votes on various legislation that affects the lives of all citizens across the country. Despite its small population size, Van Meter still plays an important role in our nation’s political landscape with its representation at both the state and federal level.
The political climate in Zip 50261 (Van Meter, IA) is somewhat conservative.
Dallas County, IA is leaning conservative. In Dallas County, IA 48.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 50.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Dallas county remained narrowly Republican, 50.0% to 48.0%.
Dallas county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 50261 (Van Meter, IA) is somewhat conservative.
Van Meter, Iowa is somewhat conservative.
Dallas County, Iowa is leaning conservative.
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.
Van Meter, 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 50261 (Van Meter)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 29 contributions totaling $69,350 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $2,391 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 36 contributions totaling $15,514 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $431 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)