Politics in 66618 Topeka, KS is largely influenced by the state and local government. On the state level, Kansas is predominantly Republican with an all-Republican delegation to the State Senate and House of Representatives. On the local level, the city of Topeka is served by a mayor and six members of the City Council who are elected at-large every four years. The current Mayor of Topeka is Michelle De La Isla. In addition to these elected officials, there are numerous positions that are appointed to represent various citizens and neighborhoods as well as boards such as Parks & Recreation Commission, Human Relations Commission, Public Works Board, and Environmental Policy Advisory Board. All elected and appointed officials work together to ensure that Topeka remains a great place for people to live and work.
The political climate in Zip 66618 (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 66618 (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 66618 (Topeka)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 114 contributions totaling $19,452 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $171 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 51 contributions totaling $15,070 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $295 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)