Clay County, Minnesota is a rural county located in the northwestern corner of the state. The county has a long and rich history of political involvement, with an active local government and numerous elected officials. The Clay County Board of Commissioners is comprised of five members who are responsible for enacting policy and making decisions on behalf of the citizens. Additionally, there are many other elected officials in the county such as judges, sheriffs, attorneys, auditors, assessors, clerks, treasurers and surveyors. At the county level, residents have the opportunity to vote on important local issues such as education initiatives or budget proposals. At the state level, legislators from Clay County work together to make decisions that will impact everyone in Minnesota. With so many different voices coming together to make important decisions about our community, it is clear that politics in Clay County play an important role in day-to-day life.
The political climate in Clay County, MN is leaning liberal.
In Clay County, MN 50.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 46.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Clay county flipped Democratic, 50.7% to 46.7%.
Clay county flipped Democratic in the most recent Presidential election (2000, 2004 and 2016 went Republican).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Clay County, MN is leaning liberal.
Fargo Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Minnesota is leaning 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.
Clay, Minnesota: r r D d r 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 Clay County, MN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 7,202 contributions totaling $118,320 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $16 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 410 contributions totaling $199,968 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $488 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)