The small city of Rensselaer, NY located in the county of Rensselaer is located east of Albany. The city has a total area of 1.8 square miles and as of 2019, the population was 9,125. With a small population but a rich history, the politics in 12144 Rensselaer, NY are overseen by Mayor Rich Mooney and the City Council members: Deputy Mayor Michael Stammel, Treasurer Nicolle LaFlamme-McCarthy; Aldermen Greg Kimmel, Jaime Lynn Manetta; and Councilmen Christopher Jacoby and Jason Harris. These individuals are responsible for making decisions on issues such as fiscal responsibility, community development, public safety, transportation and services. This governing body meets regularly to discuss topics that affect the people living in 12144 Rensselaer. In addition to local politics in 12144 Rensselaer, citizens can also be involved in state and federal government elections by registering to vote and participating in elections.
The political climate in Zip 12144 (Rensselaer, NY) is leaning liberal.
Rensselaer County, NY is leaning liberal. In Rensselaer County, NY 51.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 46.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Rensselaer county flipped moderately Democratic, 51.6% to 46.0%.
Rensselaer county flipped back to Democratic in the most recent Presidential election, after voting Republican in 2016.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 12144 (Rensselaer, NY) is leaning liberal.
Rensselaer, New York is leaning liberal.
Rensselaer County, New York is leaning liberal.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
New York is moderately 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.
Rensselaer, New York: d d d D 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 12144 (Rensselaer)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 951 contributions totaling $62,021 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $65 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 239 contributions totaling $23,237 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $97 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)