Ottumwa, IA · 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: Wapello County, Iowa. The figures below are that county’s, which is the same territory — not a larger unit standing in for it.
Presidential nominating contests in Ottumwa, IA, 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
By party of registration, over time
Party registration · 2024R+3.0
vs
Presidential vote · 2024R+31.4
Registration leans Republican; the presidential vote runs 28 points more Republican than the rolls.
DemocraticRepublicanUnaffiliatedOther parties
Voter registration in Ottumwa, IA
Year
Total registered
Democratic
Republican
Unaffiliated
Other
2008
23,695
11,421
4,888
7,381
5
2010
23,697
10,802
5,603
7,283
9
2012
23,940
10,297
5,715
7,906
22
2014
23,107
9,687
5,461
7,916
43
2016
22,854
9,233
5,806
7,725
90
2018
22,112
8,632
5,654
7,714
112
2020
22,286
8,201
6,550
7,383
152
2022
21,668
7,257
6,891
7,349
171
2024
21,487
6,518
7,158
7,629
182
domestic migration
Who moves in and out
Net domestic migration over time
−381 net domestic migration · 2025
20112025
Net −2,971 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Domestic migration in Ottumwa, IA in Ottumwa, IA: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
−300
2012
−124
2013
−55
2014
−216
2015
−64
2016
−365
2017
−473
2018
−129
2019
−154
2021
−77
2022
−367
2023
−23
2024
−243
2025
−381
Ottumwa anchors Wapello County along the Des Moines River, where a large Latino workforce tied to the IBP/Tyson plant has gradually reshaped a historically union-Democrat electorate that has swung sharply toward Republicans in recent presidential cycles.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 43.2 points in 1964 and a Republican high of 39.6 points in 1920. Between 2020 and 2024 the metro moved 7.8 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 31.4 points.
A population of 35,362, a 76% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $64,766 describe the metro. The metro's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Burlington, IA-IL and Fort Madison, IA.
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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Ottumwa, IA, Iowa. Akashic. https://akashic.app/cbsa/36900/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
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In 2024, Ottumwa, IA, Iowa voted Republican by 31.4 points (R+31.4), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 14,583 votes cast, 4,896 went Democratic and 9,479 went Republican.
When did Ottumwa, IA, Iowa last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Ottumwa, IA, Iowa voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Ottumwa, IA, Iowa?
Ottumwa, IA, Iowa has a population of 35,362 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Ottumwa, IA, Iowa?
Median household income in Ottumwa, IA, Iowa is $64,766 — below the national median of $80,734. The Iowa state median is $75,059.
What is the political history of Ottumwa, IA, Iowa?
Akashic tracks 34 presidential elections in Ottumwa, IA, Iowa from 1892 to 2024. Of those, 20 went Democratic and 14 went Republican.
