Ashfield, MA is a small town in Western Massachusetts with a population of roughly 1,800 people. The town is represented by State Senator Jo Comerford and State Representatives Stephanie F. Cummings and Lindsay Sabadosa in the Massachusetts General Court. At the local level, Ashfield is governed by a five-member Board of Selectmen that includes Chairman Tony Smith, Vice Chairman John Middleton, John Koehne, James Cuddy and Ellen Meader. Each member serves for a three-year term and are elected on an annual basis.
At the national level, Ashfield falls under the jurisdiction of the United States Congress’ 3rd District which is represented by Congressman Jim McGovern. Residents of Ashfield enjoy liberal policies at both state and federal levels as Comerford and Cummings are democrats while Sabadosa supports progressive issues such as criminal justice reform and environmental protection. As well, McGovern has been labeled one of the most progressive members of Congress due to his support for social welfare initiatives and proposed healthcare reform legislation.
The political climate in Ashfield, MA is somewhat liberal.
Franklin County, MA is very liberal. In Franklin County, MA 70.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 26.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Franklin county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 70.7% to 26.4%.
Franklin county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Ashfield, MA is somewhat liberal.
Franklin County, Massachusetts is very liberal.
Massachusetts is very 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.
Ashfield, Massachusetts: 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 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 Ashfield, MA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,122 contributions totaling $129,085 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $41 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 41 contributions totaling $4,744 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $116 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)