Columbia is, by-and-large, a Democrat stronghold full of Liberal and Progressive ideals. Overall, it promotes diversity, inclusion, education, and (despite the development) some forms of urban environmentalism. Howard County is about 48% Democrat, 31% Republican, and 21% Unaffiliated or Third Party; even then, most Republicans are either A) non-MAGA "old school" conservatives or B) live in the western areas of the county (away from Columbia proper).

You'll find gatherings or events supporting just about every disenfranchised demographic here, particularly celebrating Asian, Black, Hispanic, LGBTQIA+, and Women. Festivals and other celebrations are very common in and around Columbia; check your weekly or monthly guide and you'll hopefully find some event, even if it's just a minor ceremony.

Protests for federal issues are rarer, as both people and local government are often on the same page, but you'll find occasional demonstrations in solidarity for progressive issues. There was a march for BLM during the Floyd protests, for example, that our own police chief even joined. Most activists, however, take their stuff downtown to DC, where it has more of an impact.

As for political talk between people here, well...

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As you live here, you'll find out that Columbia is very classist. The divide here is very much by income, which makes sense given a household making less than six figures is "lower middle class" or even "working poor." And, as most know, classism is often intertwined with racism; the wealthier neighborhoods tend to be predominantly white and Asian, while the 'affordable' neighborhoods often have higher Black and Latino populations.

What you end up with is so-called 'Moderates' and 'Centrists' who are NIMBYs, liberal elite, champagne socialists, etc. People who claim to support progressivism, diversity, environmentalism, etc.... but then use their wealth (and political power) to prevent the very policies that would help those things. Some examples...

• Support immigrants but vote against sanctuary county laws
• Support diversity but protest redistricting that integrates schools based on income (which often integrates them more racially)
• Support LGBTQIA+ but question school policies on 'age-appropriate' representation in materials or rules protecting transgender students
• Applaud our green spaces but vote against laws restricting new developments (and often line their pockets with developer money)

And that's not even getting into complaints about "spikes in crime" which are often accompanied by the dog whistle about us "turning into Baltimore." (Hint: Columbia's 'worst' zip codes are 44% below the national average for crime per capita, and 59% below for violent crimes.)

Combine this with the nepotism and corruption that often follows when wealthy sit in seats of power, and you get a lot of dirty local politics. People abusing their authorities on Village Boards, coups within the Columbia Association (the closest we have to a 'governing' body), and attacks and slander throughout the election season.

Worse, those above can (and do) end up on the same side of votes as Republicans (including MAGA types), which just exacerbates the issue. Our county votes a bit more purple than you'd think, given it's demographics. We were mostly 3:1 (or more) for Democrat candidates, but only 2:1 on marijuana legalization and less than 2:1 in favor of codifying ourselves as a Sanctuary County.

Thanks to this lovely example of "Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows," we have entire social media groups dedicated to the vocal minority, full of "freedom investigators" bringing us the "truth," most of which read like FoxNews and Breitbart comments. While you can often ignore these groups just by not engaging with them, sometimes they become very loud on social media or at certain county or school meetings, especially during election time.

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tl;dr Columbia is overall Democrat/Blue/Liberal/Progressive and a place that celebrates diversity and inclusion. It's not overly political, except wherein it hosts events supporting those ideals.

However, it is a wealthy city (in a very classist county), and that leads to many egocentric Liberals of privilege who sometimes join with Conservative (and even MAGA) voices when it comes to anything that affects their money or neighborhood. While still a minority in the end, this 'alliance' can get very loud during election time (or when a 'contentious' progressive policy is in the works).