Rochester, MN is a bustling and vibrant city with a diverse population of roughly 118,000 people. In recent years the city has seen an influx of new residents due to its growing economy, attractive location, and thriving culture. With this growth comes a variety of political issues for local residents to consider. The Rochester community is served by elected representatives on both the state and federal levels, who work hard to ensure that the interests of their constituents are represented in our nation’s capital. At the local level, voters will find a number of candidates running for office each year; from mayor and city council members to school board seats. All candidates have unique perspectives and platforms that they believe would potentially benefit the city in some way or another. Ultimately it is up to voters to decide which candidate best embodies their values when heading into the voting booth.
The political climate in Zip 55904 (Rochester, MN) is leaning liberal.
Olmsted County, MN is somewhat liberal. In Olmsted County, MN 54.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 43.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Olmsted county remained strongly Democratic, 54.2% to 43.4%.
Olmsted county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 55904 (Rochester, MN) is leaning liberal.
Rochester, Minnesota is leaning liberal.
Olmsted County, Minnesota is somewhat liberal.
Rochester Metro Area is leaning 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.
Rochester, Minnesota: r r 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 55904 (Rochester)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 569 contributions totaling $35,690 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $63 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 150 contributions totaling $34,916 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $233 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)