Located in northeast Kansas, the city of Topeka, KS (with a zip code of 66611) is home to friendly and vibrant neighborhoods. Politics are an important part of life in Topeka, which has recently had heated debates over issues such as education, infrastructure, and taxes. Residents are actively engaged in politics and often voice their opinions at local elections. In recent years, several local political candidates have been elected to office, including Republican Mayor Michelle De La Isla and Democrat City Councilman Tony Emerson. The city council has also been looking into ways to improve public transportation and increase economic development in the area. As the largest city in Kansas’s capital region, Topeka is an important center for political discourse and action.
The political climate in Zip 66611 (Topeka, KS) is leaning liberal.
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 66611 (Topeka, KS) is leaning liberal.
Topeka, Kansas is leaning liberal.
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 66611 (Topeka)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 654 contributions totaling $44,990 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $69 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 178 contributions totaling $68,499 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $385 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)