Harrisburg, PA is the capital of Pennsylvania and an important political center. The city has a long history of local politics, with long-standing relationships between elected officials, their appointees, and the community. Currently, there are several local politicians working to make Harrisburg a better place for its citizens. These elected officials include Mayor Eric Papenfuse, City Controller Dan Miller, County Commissioner Jeff Haste, and State Representative Patty Kim. All of these individuals have different priorities for the city but share the same goal of improving life in Harrisburg. They have all been active in advocating for issues such as public safety, economic development, infrastructure improvements, and more responsible budgeting practices. Over the years they have worked together to pass legislation that would benefit the city. Additionally, their collaborative efforts have helped build strong relationships between the government and its citizens – something vital to ensure continued progress in Harrisburg's future.
The political climate in Zip 17120 (Harrisburg, PA) is somewhat liberal.
Dauphin County, PA is somewhat liberal. In Dauphin County, PA 53.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 44.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Dauphin county remained moderately Democratic, 53.4% to 44.9%.
Dauphin county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 17120 (Harrisburg, PA) is somewhat liberal.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is somewhat liberal.
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania is somewhat liberal.
Harrisburg-Carlisle Metro Area is leaning conservative.
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.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: r r d d d 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 17120 (Harrisburg)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 12 contributions totaling $10,007,493 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $833,958 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 0 contributions totaling $0 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $0 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)