The politics of Mishawaka, IN, a city located in 46545 in St. Joseph County, are reflective of the state鈥檚 overall political makeup. Politically, the members of this city lean largely Democratic and believe in progressive policies such as protecting the environment, providing strong public services, and supporting a living wage for workers. The city鈥檚 mayor is David Wood, who is currently running for re-election. He has held office since 2008 and has campaigned on issues like improving public safety and encouraging economic development. Other local political candidates include Democrats Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Ted Fox who are both running for seats in the Indiana House of Representatives; Republicans Mike Kelly and Linda Kickbush who are both running for St. Joseph County Council seats; and Republican Dan Halsey who is running for St. Joseph County Commissioner. All these candidates are focused on using their respective positions to improve the quality of life in Mishawaka for its residents.
The political climate in Zip 46545 (Mishawaka, IN) is leaning liberal.
St. Joseph County, IN is leaning liberal. In St. Joseph County, IN 52.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 46.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, St. Joseph county remained moderately Democratic, 52.0% to 46.1%.
St. Joseph county voted Democratic in five of the last six Presidential elections (2004 went Republican).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 46545 (Mishawaka, IN) is leaning liberal.
Mishawaka, Indiana is leaning liberal.
St. Joseph County, Indiana is leaning liberal.
South Bend-Mishawaka Metro Area is leaning 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.
Mishawaka, Indiana: d r 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 46545 (Mishawaka)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 961 contributions totaling $135,030 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $141 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 385 contributions totaling $1,084,656 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $2,817 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)