In an expected display of political alignment, the voters of Simi Valley resonated with the broader national sentiment for the third presidential election running. When you crunch the numbers from the Ventura County Elections Division, an intriguing detail emerges. Out of the 10 cities in Ventura County, it was only in Simi that the voters favored Donald Trump over Kamala Harris. Trump’s draw was 49.9% of the city voters, mirroring his nationwide percentage in the election.
Harris, on the other hand, claimed 45.8% of the votes in Simi, while pulling 48.4% nationally. Here, one can’t help but laugh at the fact that even in ultra-liberal California, some communities can still discern the better candidate. We see a different scenario when we look at other corners of Ventura County where the majority of the voters veered towards the Democrat Harris. Among her wins, Harris garnered almost 69% of the votes in Ojai and around 64% in Oxnard.
Trump’s second-best performance in Ventura County was in Camarillo, securing nearly 44% of the votes, while Harris grabbed around 52%. On a county-wide scale, Harris seemed to have a slight edge with approximately 56% votes, while Trump claimed a sizeable 41%. It’s worth noting that Trump had a slight uptick in support from four years ago when he received 38% of the county’s votes.
Simi Valley’s inclination towards the Republican nominee was a predictable outcome. It remains the sole city in Ventura County with more registered Republican voters than Democrats. In the 2016 elections, Simi Valley stood with Trump over Hillary Clinton; however, it seems that in the subsequent election they took a surprising and questionable turn towards Joe Biden, albeit by a razor-thin margin of 635 votes.
Long-time Republican and former City Council member, Barbra Williamson, who has called Simi Valley home for over five decades, didn’t seem to have a definitive answer as to whether the presidential election accurately reflects her city’s alignment with the national sentiment. Nevertheless, she was confident that voters across the city, and indeed the United States, chose wisely. ‘Simi Valley has a conservative lean,’ she remarked, attributing the votes for Trump to this mindset.
‘People are hurting, and they want a change,’ Williamson added. Meanwhile, Leanna Brand, a Simi Valley resident for close to 29 years and a Democrat, heads the Indivisible Simi Valley group, which espouses what she refers to as ‘progressive ideology’. In contrast to the right-wing majority, Brand seems unsure of her fellow citizens, although she admits to not being surprised that Simi Valley leaned Republican.
Brand let slip a snort of disbelief saying, ‘I’m actually surprised Simi voters went for Biden in 2020. I wasn’t aware of that.’ In a mocking tone, she added, ‘They were duped.’ This suggests that many Simi Valley voters had, yet again, opted to back the Republican nominee, faithfully buying into his promises.
To provide a more detailed picture of the election results within Ventura County’s cities, here’s the breakdown: Camarillo saw Trump take 43.62% of the votes and Harris with a somewhat better performance at 51.89%. In Fillmore, Trump accumulated 42.93% of the vote, whereas Harris inched ahead with 52.69%.
In Moorpark, it was again a similar scenario with Trump fetching 43.13% of the votes and Harris marginally leading with 51.98%. The city of Ojai displayed a stark contrast where Trump managed to claim a paltry 26.12% as against a resounding 68.78% for Harris. The script flipped drastically in Oxnard, where Trump could only muster 32.07% of the votes in contrast to a commanding 63.76% for Harris.
In Port Hueneme, Trump managed to acquire 34.81% of the votes, while Harris secured a larger share at 60.57%. Santa Paula saw a similar split, with Trump claiming 37.11% of votes and Harris leading again with 58.49%. Interestingly, in Thousand Oaks, Trump received 41.15% of the votes, with Harris winning a greater share at 54.07%.
The city of Ventura, on the other hand, showed a clear cut preference for Harris, with her claiming 60.34% of the votes and Trump lagging behind at 34.93%. But the limelight clearly steals Simi Valley with Trump’s majority vote of 49.9% versus Harris’s 45.81%. It underscores Simi Valley’s firm conservative stance and skepticism towards the Democratic platform.
All things considered, the diverse voting patterns across Ventura County only serve to remind us of the extensive and varied political landscape within the United States. While the likes of Simi Valley and Camarillo show a stronger inclination towards conservative values, other cities in Ventura County seemingly sway towards left-leaning ideologies. However, local dynamics seem variable even within a single county.