Spencer, 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: Clay 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 Spencer, 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+33.9
vs
Presidential vote · 2024R+43.1
Registration leans Republican; the presidential vote runs 9.1 points more Republican than the rolls.
DemocraticRepublicanUnaffiliatedOther parties
Voter registration in Spencer, IA
Year
Total registered
Democratic
Republican
Unaffiliated
Other
2008
12,628
2,992
4,734
4,900
2
2010
12,483
2,942
4,659
4,875
7
2012
12,695
2,841
4,834
5,015
5
2014
12,182
2,655
4,780
4,735
12
2016
12,286
2,230
6,054
3,967
35
2018
11,799
2,133
5,696
3,914
56
2020
12,061
2,340
5,888
3,748
85
2022
11,876
2,155
5,934
3,687
100
2024
11,762
2,013
6,005
3,631
113
domestic migration
Who moves in and out
Net domestic migration over time
−292 net domestic migration · 2025
20112025
Net −824 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Domestic migration in Spencer, IA in Spencer, IA: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
−36
2012
−39
2013
−142
2014
+50
2015
+2
2016
−196
2017
−184
2018
−71
2019
−133
2021
+133
2022
+87
2023
+25
2024
−28
2025
−292
Spencer, IA sits in the Corn Belt. In 2024 it voted Republican.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 25.3 points in 1936 and a Republican high of 62.1 points in 1920. Between 2020 and 2024 the metro moved 4.3 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 43.1 points.
A population of 16,461, a 91% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $65,428 describe the metro. The metro's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Watertown, SD and Spirit Lake, 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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Spencer, IA, Iowa. Akashic. https://akashic.app/cbsa/43980/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
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In 2024, Spencer, IA, Iowa voted Republican by 43.1 points (R+43.1), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 8,541 votes cast, 2,367 went Democratic and 6,047 went Republican.
When did Spencer, IA, Iowa last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Spencer, IA, Iowa voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Spencer, IA, Iowa?
Spencer, IA, Iowa has a population of 16,461 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Spencer, IA, Iowa?
Median household income in Spencer, IA, Iowa is $65,428 — below the national median of $80,734. The Iowa state median is $75,059.
What is the political history of Spencer, IA, Iowa?
Akashic tracks 34 presidential elections in Spencer, IA, Iowa from 1892 to 2024. Of those, 9 went Democratic and 24 went Republican.
