The city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is the capital of the Commonwealth, and it has a rich history of politics and activism. The city is home to a diverse population of over 49,000 people and is represented by both state and federal representatives from both parties. It is part of the 13th congressional district which is currently represented by Democratic Representative Dwight Evans. In addition to the federal representatives, Harrisburg also has a mayor, Eric Papenfuse, who was elected in 2016. At the state level, Harrisburg residents are represented by Senators John DiSanto and Mike Regan in the Pennsylvania State Senate and Representatives Patty Kim and Neal P. Goodman in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. All four representatives are Democrats. Harrisburg鈥檚 local government includes seven members on City Council who serve four-year terms in staggered elections. Through these elected officials, citizens have opportunities to participate in political dialogue that affects their city and its neighborhoods.
The political climate in Zip 17102 (Harrisburg, PA) is somewhat liberal.
Dauphin County, PA is somewhat liberal. In Dauphin County, PA 53.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 44.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Dauphin county remained moderately Democratic, 53.4% to 44.9%.
Dauphin county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 17102 (Harrisburg, PA) is somewhat liberal.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is somewhat liberal.
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania is somewhat liberal.
Harrisburg-Carlisle Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Pennsylvania 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.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: r 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 17102 (Harrisburg)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 431 contributions totaling $113,106 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $262 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 29 contributions totaling $11,349 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $391 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)