Politics in 57201 Watertown, SD are largely centered around the local government of Watertown. The City of Watertown is run by a mayor and six city council members who are elected to serve four-year terms. In 2020, Mayor Sarah Caron was reelected for her second term. The current council consists of Kelli Berndt, Craig Hosmer, Mike Ray, Brady Kannas, Janice Larson, and Todd Price. Together they oversee the budgeting, public safety initiatives, infrastructure projects, and other city services that benefit the local community. Watertown residents also take part in state and national elections and voice their opinions on various issues affecting them and their families. Political participation in this area is driven by a strong sense of civic engagement and commitment to keeping Watertown’s small-town charm alive while embracing progress and growth for the future.
The political climate in Zip 57201 (Watertown, SD) is strongly conservative.
Codington County, SD is very conservative. In Codington County, SD 29.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 68.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Codington county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 68.1% to 29.2%.
Codington county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 57201 (Watertown, SD) is strongly conservative.
Watertown, South Dakota is strongly conservative.
Codington County, South Dakota is very conservative.
Watertown Metro Area is very conservative.
South Dakota is strongly conservative.
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.
Watertown, South Dakota: R R r 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 57201 (Watertown)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 255 contributions totaling $17,404 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $68 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 456 contributions totaling $162,259 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $356 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)