Tennessee's 6th congressional district

The 6th Congressional District of Tennessee is a congressional district in Middle Tennessee. It currently includes all of Bedford, Cannon, Clay, DeKalb, Jackson, Macon, Marshall, Overton, Putnam, Robertson, Rutherford, Smith, Sumner, and Trousdale Counties, as well as a portion of Wilson County. Republican Diane Black represents the district as of 2011.

The district is located in north-central Tennessee and borders Kentucky. Its present configuration dates from the 1980 Census, when Tennessee picked up a district. At that time, a large portion of the old 4th District was shifted to the new 4th District, and the remainder of the old 4th was renumbered as the 6th District.

Two men who would later achieve national prominence in politics represented most of the territory now in the 6th District--President James K. Polk and Vice President Al Gore.

Ancestrally Democratic since the days of Andrew Jackson, the 6th has become increasingly friendly to Republicans in the last decade as Nashville's suburbs have spread further into this once-rural district, especially into Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties. With close access to interstates 24, 40, and 65, subdivisions are sprouting almost exponentially, fast filling with new economy managers. Not surprisingly, it has voted for Republican presidential candidates in all but one election since 1980, even against Gore in 2000 by a narrow margin.

After the 2000 United States Census, the Tennessee General Assembly shifted many of the suburban areas--most notably Williamson County, the most Republican county in Middle Tennessee) to the 7th District. However, despite the district's fast growth, it will be difficult to shift more of the district's suburban territory elsewhere due to sluggish population growth in the more rural areas.

At the local level, however, politics are somewhat more split, with the more rural counties continuing to elect conservative Democrats, while the newer suburban areas are now dominated by Republicans, who usually displaced the older "Dixiecrat" establishments in those counties.

Diane Black was elected in the Republican landslide of 2010 when Democrat Bart Gordon decided to end a 26-year career in Congress. Black's victory marked the first time that much of the district had been represented by a Republican since 1921, and for only the second time since Reconstruction.

List of representatives

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
• Political Graveyard database of Tennessee congressmen

External links

• Congress.com: Tennessee Congressional districts