The city of Port Arthur, TX (77642) is known for its diverse culture and politics. It has a population of approximately 54,000 people, making it the tenth largest city in the state of Texas. Its political landscape is dominated by the Democratic Party, which holds a strong majority on both the local and state levels. Port Arthur has sent representatives to both the Texas House and Senate since 1876, with their most recent representative being Democrat Barbara Nash-Gonzalez who was elected in 2020. The city also elects a mayor and six city council members each year to serve as part of its local government. In addition to this, residents are also represented by numerous special districts, such as those responsible for water and sewer services, garbage collection and other city functions. Despite its generally liberal leanings, Port Arthur remains an open-minded community that values diverse perspectives on issues ranging from economic development to healthcare reform.
The political climate in Zip 77642 (Port Arthur, TX) is leaning liberal.
Jefferson County, TX is leaning conservative. In Jefferson County, TX 48.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 50.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Jefferson county remained narrowly Republican, 50.2% to 48.6%.
Jefferson county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 77642 (Port Arthur, TX) is leaning liberal.
Port Arthur, Texas is leaning liberal.
Jefferson County, Texas is leaning conservative.
Beaumont-Port Arthur Metro Area is strongly conservative.
Texas is leaning 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.
Port Arthur, Texas: 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 77642 (Port Arthur)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 437 contributions totaling $84,636 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $194 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 284 contributions totaling $47,068 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $166 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)