The city of Gary, IN, located in the 46406 zip code is a vibrant and diverse community with a long history of involvement in politics. Gary is the largest city within Lake County and is home to many government offices, organizations, and community groups that are actively engaged in local issues facing the region. The political climate of Gary is generally one of progressivism and civic engagement; residents are often politically active and work together to collaborate on solutions for their community. There are several local politicians who represent Gary at the state and federal level, including Congressman Pete Visclosky, Senator Vaneta Becker, Assemblyman Charlie Brown, and Councilwoman LaVetta Sparks-Wade. All four politicians have worked hard to ensure that Gary's voice is heard when it comes to policy decisions that impact the city. Overall, politics in 46406 provide an opportunity for residents to be informed about what鈥檚 happening in their own backyard so they can better shape their future.
The political climate in Zip 46406 (Gary, IN) is somewhat liberal.
Lake County, IN is somewhat liberal. In Lake County, IN 56.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Lake county remained very strongly Democratic, 56.7% to 41.6%.
Lake county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 46406 (Gary, IN) is somewhat liberal.
Gary, Indiana is somewhat liberal.
Lake County, Indiana is somewhat liberal.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin Metro Area is very liberal.
Indiana is somewhat 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.
Gary, Indiana: 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 46406 (Gary)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 30 contributions totaling $2,267 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $76 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 4 contributions totaling $1,245 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $311 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)