Kalona, IA is a small town in Iowa with a population of around 3,400 people. The city is governed by a mayor and five city council members who are elected by the citizens every two years. The mayor and council members work together to create and implement local policies as well as manage the budget for Kalona鈥檚 operations. The current mayor is Tom Van Dee and the current city council comprises of Kathy Christensen, Rachel Mears, Mark Bontrager, Brian Wilkins, and David Whiteaker. These individuals are all committed to ensuring that Kalona remains a safe place to live with excellent infrastructure and services that benefit their constituents. They work together diligently to ensure that all laws are followed and that any proposed changes are discussed thoroughly before being implemented. Additionally, they are constantly looking for ways to improve the quality of life in Kalona through initiatives such as expanding public transportation options or improving recreational areas around the town.
The political climate in Kalona, IA is moderately conservative.
Washington County, IA is moderately conservative. In Washington County, IA 38.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 59.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Washington county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 59.3% to 38.8%.
Washington county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Kalona, IA is moderately conservative.
Washington County, Iowa is moderately conservative.
Iowa City Metro Area is very liberal.
Iowa 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.
Kalona, Iowa: 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 if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. 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 Kalona, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 316 contributions totaling $9,942 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $31 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 205 contributions totaling $59,774 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $292 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)