Moving back to Minnesota - Looking liberal suburbs (Minneapolis, St. Paul: HOA, houses)

[MnGopher80]

My wife and I are moving back to Minnesota from the east coast. We are house hunting but are unsure of the political makeup of some of the suburbs?

Putting this out there. We are very liberal socially (left leaning) and would like to find some nice suburbs outside of the city that have similar views (or at least as close as possible to say NYC/Boston). We'd rather live in the twin cities, but the schools seem to have really bad ratings. And the charter schools seem like they have long waiting lists.

My Criteria includes:

The size doesn't have to be a large lot but 0.75+ acres of mature forest would be nice.
I don't need to worry about commute but would like to be as close to the twin cities as possible. Maybe 45min.
Looking to spend a maximum of $650k.
Great Schools (such as Wayzata, ID196, etc.) - This rules out places like Hopkins, St. Louis Park, Osseo, etc.)
No HOA - Don't want to deal with associations

With that said, we like a lot of places near lake Minnetonka, Apple Valley and also North East of Saint Paul

I hope that's enough information to get started. Thanks!

[Staggerlee666]

WTF is a liberal suburb?

[Thedosius]

A very general rule of thumb would be that the northern suburbs lean more conservative, the western ones (of which you have already mentioned Wayzata, Hopkins, St. Louis Park) lean more liberal.

I don't know enough about eastern/northeastern or southern suburbs - I'm sure there are many people here who could give you better info than I regarding them.

You might also add Golden Valley into the mix- it's another western suburb and I think it could be seen as rather 'liberal'. The suburbs as a whole tend to be the battlegrounds of Minnesota politics, but in general inner-ring as opposed to outer-ring suburbs tend to be less conservative.

[MnGopher80]

Thanks @Thedosius, we were looking at election results just to get a sense of the way voters turned out for the last election. It's broken down by county: How was Minnesota voter turnout by county? Here are the results - StarTribune.com

We really like Wayzata so that's good. We saw some nice houses in Chanhassan, Eagan, and Apple Valley though.

To the previous poster's question "WTF is a liberal suburb?":

More specifically:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_liberalism

It's common for humans to seek others with like-minded beliefs and attitudes. Personally, we believe in the using the power of our governments to help make the world better for ones less fortunate. We also believe in pro-choice, gay marriage, supporting climate change science, enforcing environmental regulations, etc.. You know.. modern day scary liberal stuff. But am not here to persuade anyone that my belief should make sense to them. I am merely using it as a description of something that can be applied more generally to a town or a city. Therefore increasing our chances of enjoying the place we intend to settle in.

[SciFiNerd1]

I think you may find suburbs to be too conservative for your taste except for the western ones maybe.

Why not consider inner suburb of Hopkins? I am not sure about the schools though.

I also think you will like Stillwater but I am not familiar about its political leaning. It was Michelle Bachmann's old district.

[gopherviking]

Stillwater is very conservative.
Linden Hills and Fulton are quite liberal in SW Minneapolis, but you won't get the land you desired.
Edina is an option too.

[Citykid3785]

I'm a conservative from Apple Valley. It's so tough to judge the city as a whole, but my guess is that we are about 50/50?

Can't say enough good things about the city of Apple Valley though! I'm from NJ, but lived in Eagan/AV for 18 years, went to aD196 high school. If I can answer any specific questions about the area, please let me know.

[Glenfield]

No suburbs are overwhelmingly liberal. Those that lean to the DFL will split on the order of 52/48. If you want to live in an insular community surrounded by fellow liberals you'll have to move to Minneapolis or St. Paul. Even there you will find that 25% if the people are conservative, so you still run the risk of encountering one of us.

[Staggerlee666]

Originally Posted by Glenfield

No suburbs are overwhelmingly liberal. Those that lean to the DFL will split on the order of 52/48. If you want to live in an insular community surrounded by fellow liberals you'll have to move to Minneapolis or St. Paul. Even there you will find that 25% if the people are conservative, so you still run the risk of encountering one of us.

Lol, one of us!

[mnlife]

The most liberal places would be Minneapolis or St. Paul. Most first ring suburbs are also liberal. Democrats do best inside the 494/694 loop with some exceptions. Where I live in Minnetonka, our state house and senate elections are normally split close to 50/50.