Erie, PA is a city of approximately 95,000 people located in northwestern Pennsylvania. It is the fourth largest city in the state and has a vibrant political landscape. At the local level, Erie is served by a mayor-council system in which seven councillors are elected to represent each of the city’s seven wards for four year terms. The mayor is also elected to a four year term and works closely with the council to set policy agendas for the city. Both the mayor and council are involved in passing legislation that addresses issues such as economic development, public safety, infrastructure improvements, education reform, and environmental protection. This ensures that they remain accountable to their constituents and work together to develop long-term solutions for the city’s needs. In addition to local politics, Erie residents are also engaged at the county and state levels on important issues that affect them directly.
The political climate in Zip 16507 (Erie, PA) is leaning liberal.
Erie County, PA is leaning liberal. In Erie County, PA 49.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 48.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Erie county flipped narrowly Democratic, 49.7% to 48.6%.
Erie county flipped back to Democratic in the most recent Presidential election, after voting Republican in 2016.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 16507 (Erie, PA) is leaning liberal.
Erie, Pennsylvania is leaning liberal.
Erie County, Pennsylvania is leaning liberal.
Erie Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Pennsylvania 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.
Erie, Pennsylvania: 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 16507 (Erie)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 193 contributions totaling $92,007 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $477 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 110 contributions totaling $130,269 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,184 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)