Alabama's 7th congressional district

Coordinates: 32°33′5.2″N 87°52′17.04″W / 32.551444°N 87.8714000°W

Alabama's 7th congressional district
Alabama's 7th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Current Representative Terri Sewell (D–Birmingham)
Area 8,780 mi2
Distribution 72.2% urban, 27.8% rural
Population (2000) 635,300
Median income $26,672
Ethnicity 35.5% White, 61.7% Black, 0.6% Asian, 1.3% Hispanic, 0.2% Native American, 0.7% other
Occupation 28.6% blue collar, 53.4% white collar, 18% gray collar
Cook PVI D+20[1]

Alabama's 7th congressional district is a United States congressional district in Alabama that elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. The district encompasses Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Marengo, Pickens, Perry, Sumter and Wilcox counties, and portions of Clarke, Jefferson, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa counties. The district encompasses portions of the Birmingham, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa/Northport urban areas. The largest city entirely within the district is Selma.

The district has been majority-minority, with a majority of African-American residents, since the redistricting following the 1990 census. It is represented by Democrat Terri Sewell, who succeeded Artur Davis in 2010.

Character

Alabama's 7th Congressional District was first defined in 1843; it has continued since then with the exception of the years 1867-1873 during the Reconstruction era. The geographic area represented by this district has changed over time, depending upon the number of U.S. Representatives apportioned to Alabama. Around the turn of the 20th century, the district included the city of Gadsden. Over time, the district was redefined to include the area around Tuscaloosa. The last two representatives for the district before its reconfiguration as a majority-minority area were Richard Shelby (now Alabama's senior senator) and Claude Harris, both Tuscaloosa residents.

The shape of the current district was largely established in 1992, when it was reconstituted as a majority-minority district under provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended in 1982 to encourage greater representation for minorities in Congress.[2] Half of the western Alabama portion of the district was moved to the 4th district, and a large portion of Tuscaloosa County was moved into the 6th district, which had primarily been based around Birmingham. To counter the loss in population and to create the majority minority, many counties from the Black Belt region, a rural expanse in Alabama with a high proportion of African-American residents descended from workers on cotton plantations, were added to the district, as was as an arm extending from Tuscaloosa roughly along the Interstate Highway 20/59 corridor into Jefferson County to inner-city Birmingham. Two districts draw from Birmingham's population (the 6th and the 7th). The three representatives elected from the district following reconfiguration — Earl F. Hilliard, Artur Davis and Terri Sewell — have all been residents of Birmingham.

Mostly minor changes in the following two redistrictings have not substantially changed the shape of the district. But, western portions of Montgomery County have been restored to this district, including large swaths of inner-city Montgomery in the redistricting following the 2010 census. This area had earlier been removed after the 2000 census. The district contains urbanized areas of Birmingham, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa, and ten of the fourteen rural counties in the Black Belt. Three of the state's largest colleges are located in the district: Alabama State University in Montgomery, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Voting

A majority of voters in the district are African Americans who support the Democratic Party and its candidates.

Election results from statewide races
Year Office Results
2012 President Obama 72 - 27%
2008 President Obama 72 - 27%
2004 President Kerry 64 - 35%
2000 President Gore 66 - 33%

List of representatives

Congress RepresentativePartyYearsNotes
District created March 4, 1843
28th-29th Felix G. McConnell Democratic March 4, 1843 – September 10, 1846 Died
29th-31st Franklin W. Bowdon December 7, 1846 – March 3, 1851
32nd Alexander White Whig March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853
33rd James F. Dowdell Democratic March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855 Redistricted to the 3rd district
34th Sampson W. Harris March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857 Redistricted from the 3rd district
35th-36th Jabez L. M. Curry March 4, 1857 – January 21, 1861 Withdrew
37th-39th (1861–1863) Civil War
District eliminated in 1863
District re-established in 1877
44th-52nd William H. Forney Democratic March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1893 Redistricted from the At-large district
53rd William H. Denson March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1895
54th-55th Milford W. Howard Populist March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1899
56th-66th John L. Burnett Democratic March 4, 1899 – May 13, 1919 Died
66th-67th Lilius Bratton Rainey September 30, 1919 – March 3, 1923
68th-72nd Miles C. Allgood March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1933 Redistricted to the 5th district
73rd-76th William B. Bankhead March 4, 1933 – September 15, 1940 Redistricted from the 10th district, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1936–1940, Died
76th Zadoc L. Weatherford November 5, 1940 – January 3, 1941
77th Walter W. Bankhead January 3, 1941 – February 1, 1941 Resigned
77th-80th Carter Manasco June 24, 1941 – January 3, 1949
81st-87th Carl Elliott January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1963 Redistricted to the At-large district
88th January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1965 District inactive, all representatives elected At-large on a general ticket
89th James D. Martin Republican January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1967
90th-92nd Tom Bevill Democratic January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1973 Redistricted to the 4th district
93rd-95th Walter Flowers January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1979 Redistricted from the 5th district
96th-99th Richard C. Shelby January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1987
100th-102nd Claude Harris, Jr. January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1993
103rd-107th Earl F. Hilliard January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2003
108th-111th Artur Davis January 3, 2003–January 3, 2011
112th-114th Terri Sewell January 3, 2011 – present

Previous election results

2002

Alabama's 7th Congressional District House Election, 2002
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Artur Davis 153,735 92.44%
Libertarian Lauren Orth McCay 12,100 7.28%
Write-in Write-ins 474 0.29%
Majority 141,635 85.16%
Total votes 166,309 100.00
Democratic hold

2004

Alabama's 7th Congressional District House Election, 2004
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Artur Davis* 183,408 74.97%
Republican Steve Cameron 61,019 24.94%
Write-in Write-ins 211 0.09%
Majority 122,389 50.03%
Total votes 244,638 100.00
Democratic hold

2006

Alabama's 7th Congressional District House Election, 2006
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Artur Davis III* 133,870 99.04%
Write-in Write-ins 1,297 0.96%
Majority 132,573 98.08%
Total votes 135,167 100.00
Democratic hold

2008

Alabama's 7th Congressional District House Election, 2008
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Artur Davis* 228,518 98.63%
Write-in Write-ins 3,183 1.37%
Majority 225,335 97.26%
Total votes 231,701 100.00
Democratic hold

2010

Alabama's 7th Congressional District House Election, 2010
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Terri A. Sewell 136,223 72.42%
Republican Don Chamberlain 51,882 27.58%
Majority 84,341 44.84%
Total votes 188,105 100.00
Democratic hold

2012

Alabama's 7th Congressional District House Election, 2012
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Terri A. Sewell* 226,753 75.82%
Republican Don Chamberlain 72,304 24.18%
Majority 154,449 51.64%
Total votes 299,057 100.00
Democratic hold

Living former Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama's 7th congressional district

As of April 2015, there are three former members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama's 7th congressional district that are currently living.

U.S. Representative U.S. House of Representatives Term (Congressional years in office) Date of birth (and age)
James D. Martin 1965 - 1967 September 1, 1918
Earl F. Hilliard 1993 - 2003 April 9, 1942
Artur Davis 2003 - 2011 October 9, 1967

Historic district boundaries

2003 - 2013

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
  2. ↑ Pear, Robert (August 3, 1992). "THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Congressional Districts; Redistricting Expected to Bring Surge in Minority Lawmakers". The New York Times. Retrieved April 23, 2010.