The city of Topeka, KS, located in Shawnee County, is the state capital and seat of Shawnee County government. It is a vibrant city with a population of around 126,000 people. When it comes to politics in Topeka, its residents have a variety of political choices. In addition to local candidates running for office at the county level, such as sheriff or county clerk, there are also representatives from both major U.S. parties active in Topeka’s election cycles. Due to its location as the state capital, many state-level offices also see representation from Topeka’s candidates including governor and other statewide offices like attorney general or secretary of state. On the national level, two congressional districts serve the area allowing for even more choices at the polls from residents living in 66610. It is clear that those living in 66610 have no shortage of options when it comes to their political voice and representation.
The political climate in Zip 66610 (Topeka, KS) is leaning conservative.
Shawnee County, KS is leaning liberal. In Shawnee County, KS 49.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 47.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Shawnee county flipped Democratic, 49.9% to 47.0%.
Shawnee county flipped Democratic after voting Republican in the previous five Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 66610 (Topeka, KS) is leaning conservative.
Topeka, Kansas is leaning conservative.
Shawnee County, Kansas is leaning liberal.
Topeka Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Kansas is somewhat 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.
Topeka, Kansas: r r r r r 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 66610 (Topeka)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 680 contributions totaling $93,117 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $137 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 315 contributions totaling $71,397 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $227 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)