Rochester, Minnesota, located in Olmsted County, is a vibrant and growing city. With a population of over 114 thousand people, it is the third largest city in the state. Rochester is home to a wide variety of political groups and candidates who are all actively involved in local government. From local school board elections to mayoral races, residents have plenty of options for engaging in their community's political process. The mayor of Rochester is Kim Norton and she has served since 2018. The City Council consists of seven members who are elected to four-year terms. There are also many non-partisan organizations that provide resources for citizens interested in learning more about local issues or getting involved with politics at the grassroots level. Overall, Rochester provides an interesting and diverse landscape when it comes to politics and civic engagement.
The political climate in Zip 55906 (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 55906 (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 55906 (Rochester)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,877 contributions totaling $116,002 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $40 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 232 contributions totaling $48,637 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $210 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)