Is Kansas City, Kansas a Liberal City?

The Sunflower State is known for many things, one of which being its Republican majority. As in most states, however, the largest city, and state capital, has a Democratic lean among voters. This can be important to know when looking to move.

Kansas City, Kansas is a liberal city because of the liberal beliefs of its residents. This is shown through elected officials, and voting statistics. It is not as liberal as cities in strongly Democratic areas, but for a conservative state, Kansas City is rather liberal.

This is a compilation of information about the political views in Kansas City, Kansas. It will show the political trends in several areas. The city is more liberal than other cities in the state but is far from a strong and entirely liberal area like San Francisco.

Recent Voting Statistics

In the 2020 presidential election, Wyandotte county voted with a Democratic majority. A strong 64.5% of the votersOpens in a new tab. in Kansas City supported the Democratic party candidate. Only 33.2% of residents in the area voted with the Republican party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent in the election.

Wyandotte county, located in Kansas City, has a history of voting with the Democratic party. The area has voted with a Democratic majority in every Presidential election since 2000. Because the majority of liberal views are advocated by the Democratic party, a strong Democratic voting majority in the area shows the city’s liberal views. The state of Kansas leans Republican, showing that a large portion of Democratic votes in state affairs is attributed to Kansas City, Kansas residents.

Financial Contributions to Party Campaigns

Another category in which Kansas City shows liberal views is through recent financial contributionsOpens in a new tab. to individual party campaigns. Residents in the city have donated considerably more to the Democratic party and liberal campaigns than to opposing efforts.

Over the last four years, 2018-2021, Democratic party and liberal campaigns received a total of $353,669 in donations. This came from 3,486 contributions, averaging approximately $101 per contribution made over this period of time.

The Republican party and conservative campaigns in the area received a smaller total of financial profit and fewer amount of contributions as well. In the same 2018-2021 time span, the Republican and conservative campaigns only received a total of $204,833 in donations from a total of 930 contributions. This equates to an average of around $101 per contribution.

Not only did the Democratic and liberal campaigns receive more than their opponents, but these campaigns also gained a total of $148,836 more than Republican and conservative efforts within the city over the same four-year time period. They also received 2,556 more contributions. This means that a higher percentage of contributors and donations were made to support liberal views and campaigns than conservative alternatives. Kansas City, Kansas is a liberal city.

Elected Government Officials

The current mayor of Kansas City, Kansas is Tyrone A. Garner.Opens in a new tab. Mayor Garner was sworn into office on the 13th of December in 2021. Garner is also associated with the Democratic party.

In the state of Kansas, residents voted and elected Laura Kelly to be the state governor. Governor KellyOpens in a new tab. was elected in 2019. She is also associated with the Democratic party. The voters in Kansas City elected a Democratic governor and mayor to support their liberal views and to apply them to progress within the city and state in these terms.

In many states, there is a heavy presence of one view, and sprinkled in there are people and counties who vote for the other side. In some places, the opposing population is small, and in others, it is big and can make the state unpredictable in elections.

In Kansas City, Kansas, you can predict with more certainty what the outcome of local elections and state elections will be. So, with the patterns of Democrat officials being voted into office by the citizens, it is no question that the officials above are in office.

Religious Community

Religion is not a direct indication of someone’s political views, but there is an influence there. People who believe in the Bible, the creation of the world, the purpose of life on earth, and a heaven afterlife are oftentimes conservative rather than liberal. And, this general outline of beliefs is shared amongst many religions and people who don’t associate with a single religion but rather they have their own ideas on the subject.

Your religion influences your moral views, and that influences your voting trends because you don’t vote for things that you morally disagree with. One easy-to-understand example is abortion, and how your view on it can be a reflection of your personal, moral, and religious values and ideas. So, in a general sense, based on someone’s religion you can get a general sense of their politics. Using this idea, you can see if the religious population influences the voting trends in a city.

While voting trends, elected government officials, and financial contributions show a strongly Democratic city, there are areas in which Kansas City remains true to Kansas’s republican lean. One of these areas is religion. According to a recent studyOpens in a new tab., an estimated 49,7% of Kansas City, Kansas is religious. Some of the most prominent religions are Baptist (10%), Catholic (16.1%), Methodist (3.6%), Pentecostal (3.0%), and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (1.8%).

While the religious community in the area does not account for a strong majority of the residents, there are many citizens who do have religious/moral values. The religious residents are only a small 0.3% away from having exactly half of the city in their numbers. A strong religious community is one aspect of Kansas City that is more conservative than liberal but not overwhelmingly so with slightly less than half of the city’s population.

Abortion Views

Abortions were legalized in every US State from a court case known as Roe v WadeOpens in a new tab.. The Supreme Court ruling in January of 1973 on this case prohibited individual states’ ability to ban abortions anywhere within the United States of America. In June of 2022, the Roe v Wade case was overturned, allowing each US state to make laws protecting or banning the practice of abortions within their own state lines. Many states had placed “trigger laws” years before, poised to ban abortions if the Roe v Wade case was ever overturned.

The State of Kansas did not have any trigger laws in place. In fact, the Kansas Supreme CourtOpens in a new tab. made a ruling in 2019 that the right to abortion is protected from changes by state lawmakers, due to its inclusion within the state’s constitution. A vote was held in Kansas on August 2nd to remove this right to abortion. This vote would have set the stage for Kansas lawmakers and politicians to advocate and place laws prohibiting and potentially banning abortions completely within the next year.

In Kansas, the law after the overturning has been made official to keep up to date with the changes. AbortionOpens in a new tab. is legal for up to 22 weeks, and it has other restrictions on it. The state recognizes that life begins at conception, but under the state constitution mother’s also have a right to their anatomy, so with this conflict, we may see changes in the abortion laws in the coming years. If the next governor is more conservative, we will likely see them wanting to remove abortions permanently in the state.

Following the announced Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade, over 100 Kansas citizens met in a large public parkOpens in a new tab. only a short drive away from Kansas City. They held a rally protesting the announced overturning of the case, knowing what changes could come to the state. This event showed support for the protection of abortion rights. Now, we can see that in Kansas City they will still have abortions, but again, if another governor is voted into office who is pro-life then a change in the legalization of abortion may change.

But, it is hard to predict if Kansas city or the state of Kansas will vote a Republican into office. So, for now, and in the foreseeable future, abortion is allowed and is seen as a right to have.

Gun Laws

The State of Kansas is highly conservative in its gun laws, and gun violence within the state and in Kansas City is high. The state of Kansas has a higher gun violence rate than the national average, and state lawmakers passed a new law in 2021 allowing 18 to 20-year-olds to carry concealed and loaded handguns in public, including on college and university campuses. The state’s Democratic governor vetoed the passing of this law but was overruled by the majority of state lawmakers.

Gun violence rises in the state’s large cities such as Wichita, Kansas City, Overland Park, and Topeka. The passing of new and weak gun laws increases the number of citizens who can purchase, own, and carry arms in public places. This is one of the ways that Kansas City is still considered to be conservative, protecting residents’ rights to own and bear arms provided by the second amendment.

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