Walker, Michigan is a small suburb located in Kent County with an estimated population of 24,100 as of 2020. Walker is governed by a nonpartisan mayor-council system, and the current mayor is Gary Carey. The council consists of seven members elected at-large to staggered four-year terms. In addition to the mayor and council members, there are boards and commissions appointed by the mayor with approval from the council. These boards work on issues such as public safety, economic development, parks and recreation, zoning and planning, and more. There are also numerous local political organizations that are active in the area that help to support candidates running for office. As a result, Walker’s citizens have access to a wide variety of options when it comes to their local politics.
The political climate in Zip 49534 (Walker, MI) is leaning liberal.
Kent County, MI is leaning liberal. In Kent County, MI 51.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 45.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kent county flipped moderately Democratic, 51.9% to 45.8%.
Kent county flipped Democratic in 2020, after voting Republican in four of the last six Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 49534 (Walker, MI) is leaning liberal.
Walker, Michigan is leaning liberal.
Kent County, Michigan is leaning liberal.
Grand Rapids-Kentwood Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Michigan is leaning 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.
Walker, Michigan: R R d 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 49534 (Walker)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 213 contributions totaling $15,564 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $73 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 179 contributions totaling $19,266 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $108 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)