Big Rapids, MI · which candidate this place backed in each party’s presidential nominating contest, cycle by cycle. A primary is a contest inside one party, so it has no Democratic–Republican margin and is not part of the general-election record above.
Akashic reports votes cast, not delegates awarded. The two can disagree: Clinton led the 2008 national primary popular vote by less than half a point and did not win the nomination.
Primary returns are published at county grain, and this place is a single county: Mecosta County, Michigan. The figures below are that county’s, which is the same territory — not a larger unit standing in for it.
Presidential nominating contests in Big Rapids, MI, by party and cycle.
○no contest record — Akashic holds no result for that party and cycle here. It is not a claim that no contest was held. Telling apart a contest that was cancelled, one that went uncontested, and one simply not yet ingested needs a nominating-contest calendar, which is a separate ingest from results and does not exist yet.
Republican presidential primaries are not yet ingested — the Republican series runs from 1856 and is in scope. The row is kept so its absence is visible: a Democratic-only panel would otherwise read as though no one else held a contest.
Akashic carries 10 states for 2012 and 3 states for 2024. Cycles in which an incumbent president seeks renomination are thin by nature — few states run a contested primary — so a sparse column is politics, not a hole in the record.
County returns carry a leader and a lead over the runner-up, and nothing more. The full candidate field with vote shares is published at state grain — follow a cycle above to the state contest for it.
voter registration
Registered voters
Total registered voters, over time
Registered voters
Voter registration in Big Rapids, MI
Year
Total registered
2016
27,742
2018
28,496
2020
31,389
2022
31,989
2024
33,340
domestic migration
Who moves in and out
Net domestic migration over time
+399 net domestic migration · 2025
20112025
Net +1,926 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Domestic migration in Big Rapids, MI in Big Rapids, MI: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
+482
2012
−75
2013
−376
2014
−144
2015
−246
2016
+44
2017
+88
2018
+106
2019
−4
2021
+372
2022
+748
2023
+321
2024
+211
2025
+399
Home to Ferris State University, Big Rapids punches above its size in youth voter registration while the surrounding Mecosta County reliably posts Republican margins in statewide races by double digits.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 9.9 points in 1964 and a Republican high of 62.6 points in 1928. Between 2020 and 2024 the metro moved 2.1 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 30.0 points.
A population of 41,242, a 90% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $60,951 describe the metro. The metro's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Coldwater, MI and Olean, NY.
Akashic
Political twins — metros
The metros whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
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Big Rapids, MI, Michigan. Akashic. https://akashic.app/cbsa/13660/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
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In 2024, Big Rapids, MI, Michigan voted Republican by 30.0 points (R+30.0), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 22,489 votes cast, 7,688 went Democratic and 14,445 went Republican.
When did Big Rapids, MI, Michigan last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Big Rapids, MI, Michigan voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Big Rapids, MI, Michigan?
Big Rapids, MI, Michigan has a population of 41,242 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Big Rapids, MI, Michigan?
Median household income in Big Rapids, MI, Michigan is $60,951 — below the national median of $80,734. The Michigan state median is $72,875.
What is the political history of Big Rapids, MI, Michigan?
Akashic tracks 34 presidential elections in Big Rapids, MI, Michigan from 1892 to 2024. Of those, 3 went Democratic and 30 went Republican.
