The city of Fosston, MN has a population of 2,345 people and is located in Polk County. It is governed by a mayor-council form of government, with the current mayor being Eileen Rarick. The city council consists of five members, each elected to staggered four-year terms. The council meets every second Monday of the month at 6pm in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
Fosston is strongly rooted in community involvement and has a number of political organizations that focus on issues important to local citizens such as economic development, environmental protection and public safety. These organizations host meetings throughout the year where they discuss current issues facing Fosston and brainstorm ways to improve local government and services for residents. They also help educate citizens on local politics by attending candidate forums during election years. During election years, voters can cast their ballots for City Council seats held by representatives from each ward in Fosston.
The political climate in Zip 56542 (Fosston, MN) is strongly conservative.
Polk County, MN is strongly conservative. In Polk County, MN 34.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 63.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Polk county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 63.3% to 34.9%.
Polk county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 56542 (Fosston, MN) is strongly conservative.
Fosston, Minnesota is strongly conservative.
Polk County, Minnesota is strongly conservative.
Grand Forks Metro Area is moderately conservative.
Minnesota 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.
Fosston, Minnesota: R R d r R R
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 56542 (Fosston)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 49 contributions totaling $5,630 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $115 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 13 contributions totaling $1,614 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $124 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)