Residents in the capital of Virginia lean heavily liberal in terms of political views. While Virginia has been considered a swing vote in many elections, the city of Richmond is a strong Democratic supporter. The shift has been gradually turning and it is now a bright and nearly pure shade of blue.
Richmond, Virginia is a strong liberal city. This liberalism is clearly shown in recent voting statistics, elected government officials, gun laws, climate change policies, abortion views, financial contributions, and other past and current policies and efforts within the city.
With an estimated population of nearly 230,000 residents, Richmond has an incredibly united front when it comes to liberalism. The strong majority of the city supports liberal views in a variety of methods.
Voting Trends
As previously stated, Richmond demonstrates incredibly strong liberalism in recent voting statistics! In the 2020 presidential election, 82.9%
of Richmond city county voted for the Democratic candidate! Only 2.1% voted Independent, leaving an incredibly small 14.9% of the city’s voters siding with the Republican party’s candidate.
Richmond City County has voted Democratic in every Presidential election since the year 2000. That is 22 years of support shown to the Democratic party’s liberal views!
This is no typical victory, as over 80% of the city is shown to be Democratic and support liberal views from this election alone. Voting trends in the city of Richmond are a clear depiction of the city’s strong liberal views.
Financial Donations to Political Campaigns
Similar to the city’s voting trends, the financial donations made to party campaigns in Richmond demonstrate high liberal views and significantly fewer conservatives as supporters.
In the four years from 2018 to 2021, Richmond Virginia received an incredible sum of $3,765,705 from a total of 21,343 contributions. This means that each person that donated chose to donate an average of $176.
The Republican party and conservative campaigns received considerably fewer contributions and a lower sum overall. In the same time period, the city of Richmond only made 4,119 contributions that made a total of $2,034,403, averaging $494 per contribution.
The Democratic and liberal campaigns received considerably more financial support than the Republican and conservative campaigns in both amounts of contributions as well as in monetary value. They received $1,731,302 and 17,224 contributions more than their competitors. The city of Richmond clearly leans liberal and supports its own.
Elected Government Officials
The political views of Richmond, Virginia residents cannot be accurately depicted solely through the elected officers of the state of Virginia, as there are many other cities that are responsible for the elected candidates as well. While Richmond does impact the voting system, they are not the sole party responsible.
However, the mayor of the city of Richmond is elected entirely and exclusively by the voting citizens in the city itself. The current mayor of Richmond, Virginia is Levar Stoney, who is associated with the Democratic party. He has also been in office since he was elected in 2016. The people of Richmond favored a Democratic candidate to represent them as mayor six years ago and reelected him in the election of 2020. Stoney won with an incredible 12,260 vote lead over his nearest competitor.
The majority of these Richmond voters have liberal views and elect officials who share these opinions. This long time period under Democratic officials is a clear indication of the city’s strong liberalism.
Gun Laws
The elected mayor of Richmond, Levar Stoney, spoke recently concerning gun violence and gun laws within the city. His comments paint a clear picture of his liberal views on the possession of arms and gun laws.
“But you know what would really help us being on offense? If we had stronger policies around firearms at the state level and at the federal level…We can’t eliminate all the weapons today. But it’s my hope with the partners at the state and federal level, we will one day get there so my community, the city I love sees less and less death because of gun violence.”
Mayor Levar Stoney
Liberals work to have a strong government to have increased involvement, especially in the case of gun laws. They believe that firearms should not be common for citizens to own or handle. Liberal views promote the handling and possession of guns to be increased in the hands of law enforcement officers, and away from citizen possession.
Conservatives and liberals view gun safety differently, so the policies put in place can in most cases directly reflect the area’s political alignment. Conservatives believe that it doesn’t matter if you place strict restrictions on how to obtain a gun because people who will use a gun illegally will find illegal ways to make or buy guns.
So, they believe that if you want to protect your family you should have the ability to get a gun for your home so that when people come into your home with a gun, you have protection to scare them away and stop them, with the 2nd Amendment protecting your right to do so.
Liberals view gun control as a way to eliminate guns for everyone and make it extremely hard for people who shouldn’t have guns to get them. Both sides want an end to gun violence, but their solutions are different, and the laws in Richmond, Virginia reflect the liberal views on that.
Climate Change Policies
In April of 2022, the mayor of Richmond announced a drafted plan to combat climate change in the city. They plan to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by the year 2030 and eliminate it completely to 0% by 2050.
The Climate Action Equity Plan draft that was introduced to the city, has 49 different efforts concentrated on the sole objective of reducing Richmond’s climate impact. Mayor Stoney works to combat several aspects of the city’s influence on climate change.
“Simple acts like saving energy and resources — multiplied locally, nationally and globally — can make a difference in our lives and those of our generations to come as well… It is in that spirit that my administration has advanced a number of initiatives to reduce its impact on the environment and mitigate the impact of climate change, which is disproportionately affecting communities of color with extreme temperatures, severe flooding, and other challenges.”
Mayor Levar Stoney
The fight against climate change is one of the Democratic party’s largest efforts. Following liberal views and policies, they work to limit the use of fossil fuels and nonrenewable resources and increase our use of eco-friendly energy sources. All go green policies support the healthy impact of humans on the environment, and decrease our carbon footprint.
The proposed climate change efforts by the mayor of Richmond show that the city and its residents value these efforts and support liberal views in doing so. Richmond is a liberal city in climate change policies. Trying to help the environment is great and should be applauded. But, if you disagree with how these policies are being implemented then you should open that dialogue with friends to discuss them. Learn about the pros and cons of the different climate change policies and teach one another.
Abortion
There are several organizations working in Virginia to protect the legalization of abortions for women. Some of these groups include the NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia Foundation, Planned Parenthood, and Bans Off Our Bodies.
The US Supreme Court announced in June of 2022 that the Roe v Wade trial is now overturned. This court ruling previously provided all US women the legal right to perform an abortion in any US State or territory, as it was a decision made on the national level. The overturning of the case now provides each state with the ability to ban or legalize abortion within its own state borders.
Abortion rights supporters gathered in cities around the country to protest the overturning of the case, angry with the new ruling on abortion laws. More than a thousand of these abortion rights activists participated in two pro-choice protests in Richmond, Virginia the week that the case was overturned.
Many citizens were outraged across the nation, especially liberals who highly promote women’s rights and access to abortion procedures and treatments. The number of supporters these protests received shows the largely liberal population of the city. The majority of Richmond’s population are large supporters of these liberal beliefs and show it in their elected officials, abortion views, voting statistics, and public protests.
Many citizens were upset, but the overturning is the best way to have a happy medium for the pro-life side and the pro-abortion side. People can vote in their state for these policies and make abortions as accessible or restrictive as they want, without having to impose that on everybody across America.
There is no one solution that will satisfy conservatives and liberals fully, but this is one way to give each side satisfaction. The great thing about America is that we can vote and change rules and laws, and vote for people who believe in the same laws and who will carry out policies you would wish they make. So in Virginia, there are legal abortions with some restrictions on them, but if you would rather have those restrictions be loosened or stricter then you can use your voice and educate people on your beliefs to change others’ minds.
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