Population 2010

1,202,362

Population 2020

1,274,395

Registered Voters

771,991

Republicans

325,971

Democrat

434,148

Minor Party

11,872

No Party

Municipalities

Superintendent of Schools

Treasurer / Tax Collector

Assessor

Auditor

County Commission

District 1Michael J. Gingell
District 2Robert Hoffman 
District 3Michael Spisz 
District 4Karen Joliat 
District 5Kristen Nelson
District 6Eileen T. Kowall 
District 7 Christine Long
District 8Philip j. Weipert
District 9Gwen Markham 
District 10Angela Powell 
District 11Tom Kuhn 
District 12Chuck Moss 
District 13Marsha Gerhshenson
District 14William Miller 
District 15Adam. L Kochenderfer 
District 16Pendy Luebs 
District 17Yolanda Smith Charles 
District 18Charlie Cavell
District 19David T. Woodward
District 20 Gary Mac.Gillivray 
District 21Janet Jackson 

School Board

Mr. Connie Williams
Mr. George Ehlert
Dr. Theresa Rich
Mr. Marc Katz
Mr. Steve Gottlieb

Brief Political History

Oakland County was historically a bastion of suburban conservatism, and was hence a longstanding stronghold of the Republican Party. However, in the 1990s it became highly competitive, and since 2008 it has increasingly shifted Democratic, giving over 50% of its votes to the Democratic candidate for president in each election. Republican strength is concentrated in the many exurban townships of the county, while Democratic strength is concentrated in suburbs such as Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, West Bloomfield, and Southfield. Some suburbs, such as Novi, Troy, Birmingham, and Rochester, were historically strongly Republican but are now relatively split between the two parties, with younger adults tending to support Democrats and older residents tending to support Republicans.

In 1996, Bill Clinton became the first Democrat to carry Oakland County since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and only the fourth to do so since 1892. Al Gore and John Kerry also carried the county, by narrow margins, against George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, respectively. In 2008, the county swung significantly to Barack Obama, who became the first Democrat to win a majority in the county since LBJ, and only the third to do so since 1884. (See table at right.) He again carried the county in 2012, though by a smaller margin. Hillary Clinton won a narrow majority in 2016. In 2020, Joe Biden won 56 percent of the vote. He received over 400,000 votes, and became the first Democrat to carry the county by a margin of over 100,000 votes.

While the Democratic Party has found increasing success in presidential elections in Oakland County, the state Republican Party has remained strong in some recent gubernatorial and state elections. The county favored Republican Rick Snyder by a 22-percent margin in the 2010 Michigan gubernatorial election and again by a 12-point margin in the 2014 election; conversely, Democratic candidate Gretchen Whitmer carried the county by 17 points in the 2018 race. Republicans held a majority on the County Commission for most of its history, but following the 2018 elections, Democrats won a narrow 11-10 majority on the commission.

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