Majority-minority district

A majority-minority district is a United States congressional district in which the majority of the constituents in the district are racial or ethnic minorities (as opposed to white non-Hispanics). Whether a district is majority-minority is usually decided by United States Census data.

Majority-minority districts are often the result of racial gerrymandering. The value of gerrymandering to create majority-minority districts is a matter of dispute both within and outside of minority communities. Some view majority-minority districts as a way to dilute the voting power of minorities and analogous to racial segregation; others favor majority-minority districts as ways to effectively ensure the election of a minority member of Congress to the House of Representatives. Majority-minority districts are often the subject of legal cases examining the constitutionality of such districts, such as Shaw v. Reno (1993), Miller v. Johnson (1995), and Bush v. Vera (1996)

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African-American majority

Population Data is from 2010 Census Data[1] Congress will redistrict prior to the 2012 elections, so the percentages will not be correct after redistricting.

There is only one African majority congressional district that is represented by a congressman self identified as White Jewish. All members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) except one are Democratic. Although the bylaws do not specify that membership is open only to black members of congress, prominent members of the CBC has publicly said that they will not welcome non-black members. One Republican African American member of congress, Tim Scott has elected not to join the CBC. Steve Cohen has made his desire to join publicly known, but has not pursued membership over objections of the one of the founding members of the group. Keith Ellison is the first Muslim to be elected as a member of Congress.

Congressional Districts with African American Majorities or African American Congressmen
Rank Perc. State District 112th Congressional Black Caucus Total 2010 Afric. Amer.
1 69.3% Illinois 2 Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. 602,758 418,008
2 66.5% Mississippi 2 Bennie Thompson 668,263 444,269
3 63.5% Tennessee 9 (Jewish) Steve Cohen [2]  610,823 387,815
4 62.8% Alabama 7 Terri Sewell 603,352 379,083
5 62.6% Illinois 1 Bobby Rush 587,596 368,056
6 62.1% New York 10 Edolphus Towns 677,721 420,649
7 59.8% Ohio 11 Marcia Fudge 540,432 323,174
8 59.2% Michigan 14 John Conyers, Jr. – Dean 550,465 325,975
9 59.0% Michigan 13 Hansen Clarke 519,570 306,339
10 58.8% Louisiana 2 Cedric Richmond 493,352 290,121
11 58.5% Florida 17 Frederica Wilson 655,160 383,415
12 57.5% New Jersey 10 Donald M. Payne 634,343 364,491
13 57.3% Pennsylvania 2 Chaka Fattah 630,277 361,160
14 56.8% Georgia 13 David Scott 784,445 445,720
15 56.6% Maryland 4 Donna Edwards 714,316 403,991
16 56.2% Maryland 7 Elijah Cummings 659,776 370,480
17 56.1% New York 11 Yvette Clarke – Secretary 632,408 354,799
18 56.1% Georgia 4 Hank Johnson 665,541 373,326
19 55.9% Florida 23 Alcee Hastings 684,107 382,691
20 55.6% Missouri 1 William Lacy Clay, Jr. 587,069 326,158
21 55.3% Virginia 3 Bobby Scott 663,390 367,043
22 54.2% South Carolina 6 Jim Clyburn 682,410 369,967
23 52.2% Florida 3 Corrine Brown 659,055 344,319
24 51.8% New York 6 Gregory Meeks 651,764 337,446
25 51.1% Illinois 7 Danny K. Davis 638,105 326,105
26 50.7% District of Columbia At Large Eleanor Holmes Norton 601,723 305,125
27 50.3% Georgia 5 John Lewis 630,462 317,168
28 49.6% North Carolina 1 G. K. Butterfield – 2nd Vice Chair 635,936 315,742
29 48.4% Georgia 2 Sanford Bishop 631,973 305,953
31 43.9% North Carolina 12 Mel Watt 736,346 323,240
33 41.5% Texas 30 Eddie Bernice Johnson 706,469 293,203
35 36.8% Texas 18 Sheila Jackson Lee 720,991 265,109
36 35.9% Wisconsin 4 Gwen Moore 669,015 240,394
38 35.8% Texas 9 Al Green 733,796 262,525
47 32.6% Indiana 7 André Carson – Whip 676,351 220,806
48 31.8% New York 15 Charles B. Rangel 639,873 203,765
54 29.2% California 35 Maxine Waters 662,413 193,648
64 25.3% California 33 Karen Bass 637,122 161,233
66 25.3% Missouri 5 Emanuel Cleaver – Chair 633,887 160,180
77 22.0% California 37 Laura Richardson 648,847 142,623
84 20.9% California 9 Barbara Lee 648,766 135,331
89 19.9% South Carolina 1 Tim Scott (Republican & not a member of CBC) 856,956 169,918
112 15.4% Minnesota 5 Keith Ellison (first Muslim) 616,482 94,990
213 7.4% Florida 22 Allen West (Republican) 694,259 51,706

Asian majority

Only Hawaii's 1st congressional district has an Asian majority. Although there are several people of Asian ancestry in the House there has not been a caucus organized similar to the ones organized for African Americans and Hispanics.

The following table was lists the top 20 districts ranked by percent Asian. The number of districts was chosen arbitrarily. Only three states are represented.

Top 20 Congressional Districts ranked by people identified as Asian on census form
Rank Perc. State District Total 2010 Asian
1 52.3% Hawaii 1 658,672 344,397
2 36.7% California 15 677,605 248,707
3 36.3% California 13 665,318 241,798
4 33.8% California 12 651,322 220,118
5 32.7% New York 5 670,130 219,312
6 31.4% California 8 666,827 209,335
7 28.6% California 16 676,880 193,894
8 28.0% California 29 642,138 179,651
9 25.8% Hawaii 2 701,629 180,681
10 22.4% California 32 642,236 143,772
11 21.7% California 14 653,935 141,839
12 20.7% California 40 665,653 137,837
13 20.5% California 42 667,638 136,602
14 19.2% California 26 691,452 132,929
15 19.0% California 48 727,833 138,204
16 19.0% California 46 648,663 123,017
17 18.7% New York 9 660,306 123,454
18 18.3% New York 12 672,358 123,098
19 18.2% California 9 648,766 117,981
20 17.1% California 47 631,422 108,238

Hispanic majority

Congress has two groups for Hispanic congressmen. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus for Democrats, and Congressional Hispanic Conference for Republicans. Both groups permit delegates from territories and Senators as well as Congressmen. The Republican Conference also permits Associate members, for Representatives who are not Hispanic themselves, but have significant numbers of Hispanics in their districts. The Democratic Caucus does not permit similar associate members.

Congresswoman Loretta Sánchez has withdrawn from the Democratic caucus, but her sister Linda T. Sánchez who is also a representative temporarily withdrew, but has since rejoined.

The population data is for the 2010 census, but the congress will redistrict prior to the 2012 election. The percentages will no longer be accurate, and new Hispanic Majority districts may be created.

When a non-hispanic congressmen represents a hispanic majority district, their name and when they began their term of service in congress is indicated. In some cases like Judy May Chu and Maxine Waters they are members of a significant non-hispanic minority group inside the district. In other cases like Jaime Herrera Beutler or Gene Green the representative is simply a different ethnicity than many of their constituents.

Congressional Districts with Hispanic Majorities or Hispanic Congressmen
Rank Perc. State District Congressional Hispanic C… Total 2010 Hispanic
1 82.5% Texas 15 Caucus (Democrat) 787,124 649,297
2 81.5% Texas 16 Caucus (Democrat) 757,427 617,465
3 78.9% Texas 28 Caucus (Democrat) 851,824 672,129
4 78.7% California 34 Caucus (Democrat) 654,303 515,167
5 76.0% Texas 29 Gene Green (Jan 3, 1993) 677,032 514,861
6 75.6% Florida 21 Conference (Republican) 693,501 524,005
7 75.4% California 38 Caucus (Democrat) 641,410 483,490
8 73.5% Illinois 4 Caucus (Democrat) 601,156 442,018
9 73.2% Texas 27 Conference (Republican) 741,993 543,306
10 71.6% Florida 25 Conference (Republican) 807,176 577,998
11 71.5% Texas 20 Caucus (Democrat) 711,705 509,208
12 70.4% California 20 Caucus (Democrat) 744,350 523,705
13 69.4% California 43 Caucus (Democrat) 735,581 510,693
14 68.2% California 31 Caucus (Democrat) 611,336 417,183
15 67.6% California 47 Caucus (Democrat) - withdrawn 631,422 426,869
16 66.9% Florida 18 Conference (Republican) 712,790 476,672
17 66.5% New York 16 Caucus (Democrat) 693,819 461,580
18 66.5% California 39 Caucus (Democrat) 643,115 427,353
19 66.4% Texas 23 Conference (Republican) 847,651 562,913
20 64.2% California 32 Judy May Chu (Jul 19th 2009) 642,236 412,275
21 63.9% Arizona 4 Caucus (Democrat) 698,314 446,159
22 62.4% California 51 Bob Filner (Jan 3, 1993) 757,891 473,224
23 57.5% California 28 Howard Berman (Jan 3, 2003) 660,194 379,697
24 56.0% Arizona 7 Caucus (Democrat) 855,769 479,014
25 54.5% California 35 Maxine Waters (Jan 3, 1991) 662,413 360,796
26 52.7% California 18 Caucus (Democrat) 723,607 381,039
27 51.8% New Mexico 2 Conference (Republican) Associate 663,956 343,856
28 51.2% California 21 Conference (Republican) 784,176 401,194
29 50.6% New Jersey 13 Caucus (Democrat) 684,965 346,294
30 50.4% California 17 Sam Farr (Jun 8, 1993) 664,240 334,955
35 45.2% California 45 Conference (Republican) Associate 914,209 413,441
36 44.6% New York 12 Caucus (Democrat) 672,358 299,572
40 42.4% Texas 32 Conference (Republican) Associate 640,419 271,442
46 39.0% New Mexico 3 Caucus (Democrat) 693,284 270,117
57 33.8% Texas 19 Conference (Republican) Associate 698,137 235,973
107 20.8% Arizona 2 Conference (Republican) Associate 972,839 202,001
213 9.9% Idaho 1 Conference (Republican) 841,930 83,326
255 7.4% Washington 3 Conference (Republican) 779,348 57,604

African American plurality, majority non-white

Hispanic plurality, majority non-white

White plurality, combined minority majority

References

  1. ^ "2010 Census Data". http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/. 
  2. ^ "Black Caucus lines up for white Steve Cohen over black rival". http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/19/AR2010071905006.html. 

See also

External links