How much do you know about your local politics?

[Zioneer]

Moment of truth everybody, how much do you know about politics below the state and Congressional level (or the equivalent if you're not from the US)? Specifically in the state/whatever that you live in, how much do you know about your legislature (and the people who compromise it, especially your own representation), your state legislature elections, and even politics in your home city and if you live in/near a big city, the politics of the suburb/adjoined cities? If you do know, please explain. If you don't know, take your best guess.

I'll share what I know later, but I want to see what everyone else knows about their local politics first.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Simcha Felder and his ship of fools are RUINING EVERYTHING! Also, up until two days ago, I thought the mayor was black. Turns out, I was totally incorrect.

[Joe Biden is your president. Deal with it.]

Krist Noem isnt doing shat for my state.

[The Simpsons Cinematic Universe]

I've seen a debate between Tim Bishop and Randy Altschuler. The two things that most stood out to me were the massive applause Altschuler received upon making some sort of anti-illegal immigration remark and Bishop criticizing charter schools. I occasionally hear about local issues, but not really often enough to care that much.

[TJ in Oregon]

Which locality? I know the local politics of the town in Ohio I grew up in decently well, but I close to nothing about Madison. Perhaps that's better for my mental health.

[Aliens]

I wonder if Mayor Rahm is going to run for President, haha.

[Zioneer]

Which locality? I know the local politics of the town in Ohio I grew up in decently well, but I close to nothing about Madison. Perhaps that's better for my mental health.

Whichever one you know more about.

As for me, since nothing happens that's exciting in West Jordan, the suburb city in which I live in, and we have a weak-mayor, strong council form of government (city manager-style to be exact) I know literally nothing about West Jordan politics other than I used to be represented by the State Senate President (he retired), and there was a scandal in 2000 that some old city councilperson was going on about a few months ago at the thrift store where I work. Also, they won't allow residents of the city to build solar panels on their own homes for some daft reason.

I know more about the dynamics of the state legislature though; the Democrats are obviously non-existent outside of Salt Lake City, where they rule with a (eco-friendly) iron fist. Everywhere else, the GOP easily proves that Utah is a one-party state. The only difference is in their approach to conservatism. For example, the majority of the State Senate believes that the food tax we have should be restored back to pre-2008 levels (It is currently 1.75%, Huntsman and the legislature had reduced it from 4.75%), to ensure the poor have "skin in the game" while the Utah House (or at least its speaker Becky Lockhart) wants to keep it as it is, arguing that any tax increase is bad. I think that the food tax increase will pass, because the State Senate generally has more influence than the House.

Also, we have an openly gay guy, Jim Dabakis, as State Senator in one of the Salt Lake City districts. He's also the chairman of the Utah Democratic Party. His seat is, no joke, considered by some to be the "gay seat", since it's been represented by a high-profile gay man before, and is represented in the state house by someone of the same orientation.

Oh, and West Jordan is basically either staying static or economically dying, as most everybody who lives here works in Salt Lake City, and there's no large employers here.

[DINGO Joe]

I heard something about the previous mayor of my city getting indicted for being a business man and making some money for himself.

Otherwise, the state leg, and governor, and city council and neighboring parishes are usually a great source of expensive entertainment.

[tmthforu94]

Here in Kansas, the only elected officials I know of are my Governor, two Senators, and Congressman. I know nothing else. In time, though.

Now, for Indiana, I spent the last three years getting very involved in local and state politics, particularly with the Republican Party and was even beginning to make some preparations for a potential run for State Rep in 6-8 years. There's some information I know in terms of party politics that few others know about.

What stinks about moving to Kansas is that I have to go through this entire process over again! On the bright side, once I get established enough within the party to get through a primary, I'm golden.

[Miles]

I know lots about state politics of LA and NC.

As for my cities, I follow New Orleans and Charlotte but I don't care for Baton Rouge local politics.

[JerryArkansas]

I know almost everything you need to know for a run in the state house, which i hope to do when I am about 20-22

[morgieb]

Don't care for council politics, do follow state politics though.

[traininthedistance]

Simcha Felder and his ship of fools are RUINING EVERYTHING! Also, up until two days ago, I thought the mayor was black. Turns out, I was totally incorrect.

I live in Simcha Felder's district.  Shoot me now.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

lol corbett

[All Along The Watchtower]

Chuck Reed is a decent mayor for San Jose, I suppose.

[Maxwell]

I hear Fallin is doing a decent job, but having a 66% approval rating as a REPUBLICAN here isn't exactly screaming good work. I remember Brad Henry, a democrat, being in the mid to high 70s, with only Coburn (whose consistently polled around the 80s) being more highly approved of.

Inhofe was never that well liked here, but his legacy and his party at this point is too much of a burden to overturn.

[King]

Richard Berry is very much my kind of Republican.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Minneapolis city politics are kind of boring. We never get any huge scandals and all the debates over zoning laws and the like don't interest me. Although I have a feeling elections this year will be, Rybak is standing down for mayor and it looks like the City Council elections will be more competitive.

I know who all my state legislative officials are of course.

[Sol]

Locally, My county (Watauga), is politically very swingy. Boone, the largest town, tends to be rather liberal because it has a College, but the rest of the county is mostly Republican. The County Commission is majority Republican, but we have two Democrats, and had all the seats until 2010.

On the statewide level, I'm represented by two Republicans, one of whom is a conservative tea-partier and one who seems to be more moderate, on account having a more left wing district.

I follow NC politics with a mixture of mordant interest and horror; It seems that the General Assembly is passing as many radical laws as it can.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Also, my county has voted Democratic once in the post-Civil War era (1964, and even then it was a razor-thin margin). Obama had one of the best performances there for a Democrat ever in 2008, even as he lost it 55-44.

[muon2]

It's interesting to see how well people follow national politics, but are then relatively uninformed on state and local personalities and their politics. It's interesting since in my experience far more of the decisions that affect most Americans are made at the state and local level. Education, transportation, and economic development are all basically functions of state and local decisions. Even tax policy is controlled as much at the local level with property and sales taxes as it is by federal income and payroll taxes.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Houston County is one of the most GOP-Friendly counties in the state of Georgia. Obama didn't even crack 40% here in '08. We didn't go for Clinton either time, and we only barely voted for Jimmy Carter.
At the state level, we're represented by the first Black Republican elected since Reconstruction in the state of Georgia, Willie Talton. Or Grandad as I call him.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Krist Noem isnt doing shat for my state.

'cept lookin' FINE!



Anyhoo, I follow national/state politics mostly.  There's a bit of a tiff going on with the Riverside/Delanco police budgets; and people are complaining about businesses being burglarized in the downtown Riverside area.  That's about all I can draw from local politics.  Being in school takes up a bit of my time.  

[Sopranos Republican]

Here in Vermont, Montpelier (the capital) and Burlington (the largest city) are both very liberal. But here in Caledonia county people are much more moderate than in those areas, we voted for the Republican Randy Brock for governor, and we have republicans in the state senate from this area. We did go for Obama but not as heavily as most of the state did.

[Mr. Taft Republican]

The lowest I go is Orange County, which is lumped in with Chapel Hill so it's painfully liberal. Mayor is a hippie.