Alabama's 5th congressional district

Coordinates: 34°46′39.78″N 86°46′51.62″W / 34.7777167°N 86.7810056°W / 34.7777167; -86.7810056

Alabama's 5th congressional district
Alabama's 5th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Current Representative		Mo Brooks (R–Huntsville)
Area	4,689 mi2
Distribution	59.4% urban, 40.6% rural
Population (2010)	696,690
Median income	$38,054
Ethnicity	77.7% White, 16.9% Black, 1% Asian, 2% Hispanic, 0.9% Native American, 1.5% other
Occupation	29.6% blue collar, 57.1% white collar, 13.3% gray collar
Cook PVI	R+17[1]

Alabama's 5th 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 Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison, Morgan and most of Jackson.

It is currently represented by Republican Mo Brooks, a former Madison County Commissioner. Brooks was elected in 2010 after defeating Democrat-turned-Republican incumbent Parker Griffith in the 2010 Republican primary. Brooks later went on to defeat Democrat Steve Raby in the November general election.

Character

Two major economic projects have lastingly impacted the 5th District and have indelibly dictated the politics of North Alabama for most of the 20th Century. Before 1933, the Northern Alabama counties were characteristically poor, white and rural. The Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) arrival changed much of that, slowly transforming the demographic towards technical and engineering employees. The second major project was the space and rocketry programs including Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville where the first large U.S. Ballistic missiles were developed. Additionally, NASA built the Marshall Space Flight Center in the Huntsville-Decatur area during the 1960s. In the late 1950s Northern Alabama came to be dominated by the high-tech and engineering industries, a trend which has continued up to the present. In recent years, the United Launch Alliance has located its research center in Decatur. As a result, Huntsville has become the second largest and fastest growing metropolitan area in Alabama.

For a time, the district bucked the increasing Republican trend in Alabama. It was the only district in the state that supported Walter Mondale in 1984, but hasn't supported a Democrat for president since then. Democrats continue to hold most offices at the local level, and continued to hold most of the district's seats in the Alabama state legislature until the Republicans swept nearly all of north Alabama's seats in 2010. In the mid-1990s, it was a seriously contested seat, with longtime Democratic incumbent Bud Cramer winning reelection by only 1,770 votes in 1994. However, Cramer was elected five more times with 70 percent or more of the vote and even ran unopposed in the Democratic landslide year of 2006. Cramer did not seek reelection in 2008. Parker Griffith, a retired oncologist and State Senator, won the open seat in November 2008. However, in December 2009, Griffith became a Republican. Until Griffith's switch, the district had been one of the last in the former Confederacy to have not been held by a Republican to the U.S. Congress since Reconstruction. Griffith was ousted in the Republican primary by current Representative Mo Brooks.

George W. Bush won 60% of the vote in this district in 2004. John McCain also carried the 5th District in 2008 with 60.91% of the vote while Barack Obama received 37.99%.

Recent election results from statewide races

List of representatives

A graphical representation of party control of the district
(1833-2006)

Congress	Representative	Party	Years	Electoral history
March 4, 1833				District created
23rd	John Murphy	Jacksonian	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
24th	Francis Strother Lyon	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
25th		Whig	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1839	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
26th	James Dellet	Whig	March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1841	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
27th	March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843			District inactive, all representatives elected At-large on a general ticket
28th – 30th	George S. Houston	Democratic	March 4, 1843 – March 4, 1849	Redistricted from the At-large district
31st	David Hubbard	Democratic	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
32nd – 36th	George S. Houston	Democratic	March 4, 1851 – January 21, 1861	Withdrew
37th – 39th	(1861–1868)			Civil War and Reconstruction
40th	John Benton Callis	Republican	July 21, 1868 – March 3, 1869	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
41st – 42nd	Peter Myndert Dox	Democratic	March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1873	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
43rd – 44th	John Henry Caldwell	Democratic	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1877	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
45th	Robert Fulwood Ligon	Democratic	March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1879	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
46th – 48th	Thomas Williams	Democratic	March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1885	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
49th	Thomas William Sadler	Democratic	March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1887	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
50th – 54th	James E. Cobb	Democratic	March 4, 1887 – April 21, 1896	Lost contested election
54th	Albert Taylor Goodwyn	Populist	April 21, 1896 – March 3, 1897	Won contested election
55th – 56th	Willis Brewer	Democratic	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1901	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
57th – 58th	Charles Winston Thompson	Democratic	March 4, 1901 – March 20, 1904	Died
58th – 66th	J. Thomas Heflin	Democratic	May 19, 1904 – November 1, 1920	Resigned to fill US Senate seat
66th – 70th	William B. Bowling	Democratic	December 14, 1920 – August 16, 1928	Resigned after being appointed judge for 5th Alabama Circuit
70th – 71st	LaFayette L. Patterson	Democratic	Nobvember 6, 1928 – March 3, 1933	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
73rd	Miles C. Allgood	Democratic	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
74th – 78th	Joe Starnes	Democratic	January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1945	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
79th – 87th	Albert Rains	Democratic	January 3, 1945 – 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 – 91st	Armistead I. Selden, Jr.	Democratic	January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1969	Redistricted from the At-large district
92nd	Walter Flowers	Democratic	January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1973	Redistricted to the 7th district
93rd – 94th	Robert E. Jones, Jr.	Democratic	January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1977	Redistricted from the 8th district
95th – 101st	Ronnie G. Flippo	Democratic	January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1991	Retired from his seat to run for Governor of Alabama.
102nd – 110th	Bud Cramer	Democratic	January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2009	Decided not to seek another term
111th	Parker Griffith	Democratic	January 3, 2009 – December 22, 2009	Switched parties
		Republican	December 22, 2009 – January 3, 2011	Lost primary
112th – 114th	Mo Brooks	Republican	January 3, 2011 – present

Previous election results

2002

2004

2006

2008

• Parker Griffith switched parties on December 22, 2009, and became a Republican.

2010

2012

2014

^[2]

Living former Members

As of April 2015, there are three former members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama's 5th congressional district that are currently living.

Historical district boundaries

2003 - 2013

See also

• Alabama's congressional districts
• List of United States congressional districts

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