The city of Columbus is overwhelmingly Democratic. I don't know about Indianapolis.

the midwest sorta defines the "blue urban islands in a rural sea of red" pattern

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...7/41.73/-88.22

even indy looks solidly blue in its core, just like its midwest cousins.

True. Goes back to my OP in the topic:

The question is whether voting Democrat is the correct marker for a city being liberal. There is a wide range of different types of Democrats. The second question would be what cities have parties to the left of the Democrats (Greens, Socialist Action, etc) that are competitive in city elections? I know that Minneapolis and Seattle do. I don't know beyond that. Beyond that there is the question of whether the way a city votes in general is a good way to determine whether it is liberal or conservative in general. It can also be about how permissive a city is which is different than electoral politics.

I would imagine that Pittsburgh, PA, would be on this list.

its probably someplace in upstate new york. buffalo, rochester....or syracuse! have you seen how nice of a house for cheap you can get in syracuse? in town, 1830 farm house on half an acre with a little out building and barn? 99k....https://www.redfin.com/NY/Syracuse/3.../home/72892247

Upstate NY isn't as cheap as many would believe it is. Sure, there are super cheap houses bordering inner city Detroit prices but they are in bombed out areas but a nice house in a nice neighborhood in a good school district is at least 200-250k in an area with depressed wages and crazy taxes.

OP said nothing about livability. if were talking "nice" cities that are liberal and affordable. mmm, that probably minneapolis, columbus, indy, grand rapids. places like that.

Somewhat... Pittsburgh definitely has very liberal neighborhoods, but I wouldn’t classify the city as liberal (Democratic, yes. But more the labor union Democrat style). And certainly not the region... very conservative outside of Allegheny County.

In the 2008 election, the metro area was among the only regions that turned more red (along with places in W Virginia and Mississippi). Because... you know, Obama is a black man. Pittsburgh is still Appalachia, and quite racist in much of the region.

And it’s becoming less and less affordable as the west coast techies move in.

You think Indianapolis is nice?

And I don’t think that Grand Rapids would be considered liberal. Nor would Columbus.

You live there, so you probably know more about the region than I do. I just know from my aunt living there that the city is pretty education-focused and still relatively affordable.

Oh yeah, I would definitely agree with that

its got historically positive population gain, an unemployment rate under 4 percent and its a state capital and isnt rife with crime. thats what most cities strive for. carry on.

You think Indianapolis is nice?

Maybe not a first choice, but satellite Boston and Providence cities like Worcester, Lowell, Fall River, and Pawtucket are all super liberal (the New England type, not the California type too), and shockingly affordable - especially given how close they are to Boston. Providence itself is even affordable. Not as affordable as some of the Midwest cities already mentioned, but still quite doable.

indianapolis had a homicide rate nearly as high as chicago's last year (18.3 per 100K vs. 20.8 per 100K).

and indy did a city/county uni-gov merger decades ago. if chicago and cook county were consolidated like indy/marion county, chicago's homicide rate would actually be much lower than indy's.

can we now say that chicago isn't rife with crime too?

Indy's PR game is solid.

fuck indianapolis :haha:

Indianoplis is referred to as Naptown for a reason. It is horribly boring and generic. And as Steely points out, it is not a low crime city.

My middle finger tells me you don't like Indianapolis.