St. Helens, Oregon is a small city located in Columbia County with an estimated population of 13,837. The city is served by a mayor-council government system and the current Mayor is Rick Scholl. There are three city council members who make up the legislative body in St. Helens: Ashley Carson, Jim Trettin, and Paul Forte. The legislative body works together to pass ordinances and establish policies that benefit the residents of St. Helens. Residents have the opportunity to participate in local politics by attending council meetings or running for office. Voters can also voice their opinions on government decisions through ballot initiatives and other measures available to them. As St. Helens continues to grow, it’s important for its citizens to stay informed about local politics so they can effectively advocate for their needs and interests in their community.
The political climate in Zip 97051 (St. Helens, OR) is somewhat conservative.
Columbia County, OR is somewhat conservative. In Columbia County, OR 42.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 53.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Columbia county remained strongly Republican, 53.2% to 42.9%.
Columbia county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 97051 (St. Helens, OR) is somewhat conservative.
St. Helens, Oregon is somewhat conservative.
Columbia County, Oregon is somewhat conservative.
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro Metro Area is strongly liberal.
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.
St. Helens, Oregon: d d D d 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 97051 (St. Helens)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 363 contributions totaling $16,899 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $47 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 127 contributions totaling $8,397 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $66 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)