Bethesda, MD 20817 is a vibrant city located in Montgomery County. It is home to many diverse and active residents who take part in politics both locally and nationally. The political landscape in Maryland's 8th congressional district, which covers Bethesda, is represented by Congressman Jamie Raskin who was elected to represent the district in 2016. Locally, Bethesda is governed by an elected mayor and City Council that work together to ensure the city has strong economic development and substantial public services. Residents of Bethesda can get involved with local politics by attending town hall meetings or engaging with their elected officials during public meetings. Additionally, there are numerous organizations that focus on issues such as affordable housing, transportation infrastructure, environmental protection and education that are open for anyone to join. With so many ways to get involved in Bethesda politics, it’s easy to make a difference in this dynamic community.
The political climate in Zip 20817 (Bethesda, MD) is strongly liberal.
Montgomery County, MD is very liberal. In Montgomery County, MD 78.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 19.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Montgomery county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 78.6% to 19.0%.
Montgomery county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 20817 (Bethesda, MD) is strongly liberal.
Bethesda, Maryland is strongly liberal.
Montgomery County, Maryland is very liberal.
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metro Area is very liberal.
Maryland is very liberal.
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.
Bethesda, Maryland: D D D D D 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 20817 (Bethesda)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 27,837 contributions totaling $22,908,199 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $823 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,727 contributions totaling $2,094,681 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $768 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)