Portsmouth, VA is a bustling city situated in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. Its population of 95,535 makes it the second-largest city in the area and the 18th largest in the state. The Portsmouth political scene is one that looks out for its citizens, with an emphasis on community involvement and social justice. With a mayor elected each year from among five city council members, local government is easily accessible and responsive to public opinion. The current mayor, John Rowe, works hard to ensure that Portsmouth has strong leadership and innovation for its future growth. A number of other local politicians have taken up positions at the regional and state levels as well, showing that they are truly committed to their community's needs. All in all, Portsmouth boasts a thriving political environment where citizens can feel heard and be assured that their concerns are being taken seriously by those in power.
The political climate in Zip 23704 (Portsmouth, VA) is very liberal.
Portsmouth City County, VA is very liberal. In Portsmouth City County, VA 69.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 28.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Portsmouth city county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 69.4% to 28.6%.
Portsmouth city county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 23704 (Portsmouth, VA) is very liberal.
Portsmouth, Virginia is very liberal.
Portsmouth City County, Virginia is very liberal.
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Virginia is somewhat 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.
Portsmouth, Virginia: D D 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 23704 (Portsmouth)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 517 contributions totaling $28,498 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $55 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 52 contributions totaling $14,174 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $273 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)