Beverly Hills found itself at the center of the political crosscurrents in 2020. After civil unrest erupted across the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police, the City saw its vaunted commercial thoroughfares and storefronts vandalized and looted by rioters. Then, its tranquil residential streets became the site of civil disobedience by Black Lives Matter protesters. Additionally, the City’s iconic Beverly Gardens Park played host to what became one of Los Angeles’ largest weekly pro-Trump rallies of the political season. At its peak, the “Freedom Rallies” drew an estimated 4,000 attendees. While it’s difficult to ascribe support for any of these events to a percentage of Beverly Hills residents, the Nov. 3 election did provide interesting statistics about the City’s electorate.
The City, as the Courier announced in its Nov. 6 front page, did break for Joe Biden in the Presidential election. The former Vice President garnered 8,668 votes while
6, 329 ballots were cast for President Trump. The election returns for Beverly Hills do, however, reveal a more complicated picture than a binary choice between Democrat or Republican.
