The town of St. James, MN (56081) is a small community located in Watonwan County. The population is estimated to be around 4,000 residents living within the city limits. The town is a small but vibrant community and takes great pride in its political involvement. The majority of residents are registered Democrats who vote heavily in national and state elections. At the local level, St. James’s political landscape is dominated by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party which holds most of the elected offices including Mayor, City Council members, and County Commissioners. Local candidates for office usually support many progressive causes such as protecting the environment, promoting economic development and social justice, and advocating for civil rights. It is not uncommon to see candidates participating in local parades or hosting voter registration drives throughout the year in order to engage with their constituents. Despite disagreements over certain issues that may arise due to party differences or differing opinions on an issue, overall St. James has a strong sense of unity when it comes to politics and civic engagement at all levels of government.
The political climate in Zip 56081 (St. James, MN) is somewhat conservative.
Watonwan County, MN is moderately conservative. In Watonwan County, MN 38.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 59.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Watonwan county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 59.7% to 38.2%.
Watonwan county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 56081 (St. James, MN) is somewhat conservative.
St. James, Minnesota is somewhat conservative.
Watonwan County, Minnesota is moderately conservative.
Not Found Metro Area is 0.
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.
St. James, 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 56081 (St. James)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 69 contributions totaling $3,783 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $55 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 27 contributions totaling $5,461 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $202 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)