Gillespie County is located in the Texas Hill Country and has a rich history of politics that dates back to its founding in 1848. It was named after Robert Addison Gillespie, an early settler and councilman of the state. In Gillespie County's early political days, it was part of the Comanche Reservation until 1883 when it became its own county. Since the county's establishment, it has elected multiple judges, commissioners, sheriffs, tax assessors/collectors, and other local officials throughout its tenure. The county has also been involved with many state-wide initiatives such as voting for constitutional amendments and participating in legislative sessions. Today, Gillespie County remains proud of its political history and is still home to many passionate citizens who actively participate in their community's politics by attending local meetings, advocating for their beliefs, and engaging with their local officials to ensure that their voices are heard.
The political climate in Gillespie County, TX is very conservative.
In Gillespie County, TX 20.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 79.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Gillespie county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 79.0% to 20.0%.
Gillespie county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Gillespie County, TX is very conservative.
Fredericksburg Metro Area is very 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.
Gillespie, Texas: 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 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 Gillespie County, TX
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,434 contributions totaling $112,716 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $46 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,456 contributions totaling $313,940 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $216 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)