Alabama's 2nd congressional district

Alabama's 2nd congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in Alabama, which elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It encompasses the counties of Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Elmore, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lowndes, Montgomery (parts), and Pike.

The district is based in the city of Montgomery and takes in most of the city. Other cities in the district include Dothan, Andalusia, Troy, and Greenville. At the federal level, the district is strongly Republican - it gave John McCain 63.42% of the vote in 2008 while Barack Obama received 36.05% here.

The district is currently represented by Republican Martha Roby, a Montgomery city councilwoman, who defeated Democratic incumbent Bobby Bright in November 2010.

Character

Alabama's 2nd Congressional District covers the southeastern corner of Alabama. For most of its history, it has been based in Montgomery. However, in the 2000 round of redistricting, it lost the capitol area and most of the outlying districts to the 3rd District. The 2nd was one of five districts to swing Republican in 1964, when Barry Goldwater swept the state, and Republicans held onto the seat until 2008, when Democrat Bobby Bright succeeded retiring incumbent Terry Everett. The 1990 round shifted most of Montgomery's African Americans to the majority-black 7th District, while the areas removed in 2000 were mostly Democratic. Elmore, Autauga, Dothan and Houston counties are heavily Republican, made up mostly of whites who tend to take a hard line on defense and "law and order." The Black Belt counties - Lowndes, Bullock and Barbour - tend to be more Democratic; however, this area's votes are easily outweighed by the more populated counties of the Wiregrass region. George W. Bush won 67% of the vote in this district in 2004. The district had a Cook Partisan Voting Index score of R+13 using the 2000 and 2004 elections for the Index; the Cook PVI rose to R+16 using the 2004 and 2008 elections.

Defense and agriculture are the mainstays of the 2nd District's economy (the district includes Fort Rucker). The soil was first tilled for cotton, but in the early part of this century the boll weevil wiped out more than two-thirds of the cotton crop. Now the area grows more peanuts than almost any other part of the country. Enterprise in Coffee County erected a monument to the boll weevil as a tribute to the insect whose destruction of the cotton crop persuaded farmers to switch their efforts to growing peanuts. Dothan hosts the National Peanut Festival and Parade each October, offers the Azalea Dogwood Trail in the spring, and is home to a Robert Trent Jones golf course. Ozark has the Claybank Jamboree each fall.

List of representatives

Results

2004

2006

2008

2010

http://projects.usatoday.com/news/politics/2010/elections/AL/

References

• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. 
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. 
• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

External links

• http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/individual/#ALH02
• CNN coverage of the 2006 election
• CNN converage of the 2004 election
• CNN converage of the 2002 election
• CNN converage of the 2000 election