Ashland, Oregon is situated in Jackson County and is the home of Southern Oregon University. In 97520 Ashland, OR political decisions are made by a city council composed of eight members. The council is responsible for passing local laws, approving budgets, and providing guidance on city policies. Elections are held every two years. The current mayor is John Stromberg and the City Council President is Julie Akins. Each member of the council has an assigned ward and community representation duties. Every resident of Ashland has the right to vote in local elections for both members of the city council and other local offices such as city attorney, police chief, fire chief, library director, parks director, public works director, and treasurer. Local issues that are addressed include zoning laws, public safety regulations, land use planning regulations, economic development initiatives, and budgeting measures. Residents can voice their opinions at regular city council meetings or contact their elected officials directly through emails or phone calls.
The political climate in Zip 97520 (Ashland, OR) is leaning conservative.
Jackson County, OR is leaning conservative. In Jackson County, OR 46.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 50.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Jackson county remained Republican, 50.2% to 46.8%.
Jackson county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 97520 (Ashland, OR) is leaning conservative.
Ashland, Oregon is leaning conservative.
Jackson County, Oregon is leaning conservative.
Medford Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Oregon 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.
Ashland, Oregon: 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 97520 (Ashland)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 15,091 contributions totaling $1,119,201 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $74 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 390 contributions totaling $95,184 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $244 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)