48657 Sanford, MI is a small town located in Midland County with a population of just over 3,400. It has a mayor-council government system which gives citizens the opportunity to elect representatives who can make decisions on their behalf about local issues. Currently, Mayor Jeff Card and council members Michael Lutzke, Bill Zielinski, Robert Brownell, Donna Denny, Andrew Breidenstein, and Tim Babbitt are in office. They work together to ensure that the needs of Sanford's community are being met. The council meets regularly to discuss and vote on topics such as zoning regulations and budgeting. Additionally, they review ordinances that will affect all the residents of 48657 Sanford. As such, it is important for citizens to stay informed about local politics so that their voices can be heard in these important decisions about their town.
The political climate in Zip 48657 (Sanford, MI) is moderately conservative.
Midland County, MI is somewhat conservative. In Midland County, MI 41.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 56.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Midland county remained strongly Republican, 56.3% to 41.7%.
Midland county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 48657 (Sanford, MI) is moderately conservative.
Sanford, Michigan is moderately conservative.
Midland County, Michigan is somewhat conservative.
Midland Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
Michigan 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.
Sanford, Michigan: 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 zip 48657 (Sanford)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 95 contributions totaling $5,605 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $59 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 124 contributions totaling $195,620 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,578 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)