South Carolina's 2nd congressional district

The 2nd Congressional District of South Carolina is a congressional district in central and southwestern South Carolina. The district spans from Columbia to the South Carolina side of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan area.

From 1993 through 2012, it included all of Lexington, Jasper, Hampton, Allendale and Barnwell counties; most of Richland and Beaufort counties and parts of Aiken, Calhoun and Orangeburg counties.

It was made more compact in the 2010 round of redistricting, and now comprises all of Lexington, Aiken and Barnwell counties, most of Richland County, and part of Orangeburg County. Besides Columbia (60 percent of which is in the district), other major cities in the district include Aiken and North Augusta.

The district's current configuration dates from 1933, following South Carolina losing a seat in apportionment as a result of the 1930 Census showing that the state's population had declined. Before that time, much of its territory had been within the 6th district.

As a Columbia-based district from 1933 to the early 1990s, it was a fairly compact district in the central part of the state, which was largely coextensive with the Columbia metropolitan area. As a result of the 1990 census, the state legislature was required to draw a black-majority district. In a deal between Republicans and Democrats, the 6th District, previously located in the northeastern portion of the state, was redefined to incorporate most of the old 2nd's black residents. To make up for the loss in population, the 2nd was pushed as far west as the fringes of the Augusta suburbs and as far south as Beaufort/Hilton Head.

Since 1965 the 2nd district has been held by the Republican Party, made up of white conservatives in the late 20th-century realignment of political parties in the South. In the decades after the Civil War and before disenfranchisement in 1895 under the new state constitution, members of the Republican Party in South Carolina and the South were mostly African Americans, including many freedmen enfranchised due to Republican support for amendments for emancipation, citizenship and the franchise. After white Democrats regained control of state governments across the South, in the late 19th century, they passed new constitutions from 1890 to 1908 to disenfranchise blacks, excluding them totally from the political process. The Republican Party was crippled in the region and nearly comatose.

As a result of the Civil Rights Movement, blacks gained congressional passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which provided for federal enforcement of their constitutional rights. That year, the 2nd district's second-term Democratic congressman, Albert Watson, switched parties and enrolled with the Republicans. He was the first of mostly white Democrats to switch parties.

The 2nd district was one of the earliest districts of South Carolina whose voters supported a Republican candidate for national office in the late 20th century realignment of white conservative voters in the state. The district's best-known congressman, Floyd Spence, represented the district for more than 30 years. He was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee from 1995 to 2001, when he died a few months after being elected to a 16th term. He was succeeded in a special election by one of his former aides, state senator Joe Wilson.

Wilson has since been reelected seven times. In the most recent election, held on November 4, 2014, Wilson earned almost 62.5% of the vote against former Democrat Phil Black and Labor Party candidate Harold Geddings. The district is more than 69% white.

List of representatives

Name	Tenure	Party	Electoral history
Aedanus Burke	March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1791	Anti-Administration	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Robert Barnwell	March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1793	Pro-Administration	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
John Hunter	March 4, 1793 – March 3, 1795	Anti-Administration	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Wade Hampton	March 4, 1795 – March 3, 1797	Democratic-Republican	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
John Rutledge, Jr.	March 4, 1797 – March 3, 1803	Federalist	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
William Butler	March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1813	Democratic-Republican	Redistricted from the 5th district
William Lowndes	March 4, 1813 – May 8, 1822	Democratic-Republican	Redistricted from the 4th district Resigned
James Hamilton, Jr.	December 13, 1822 – March 3, 1823	Democratic-Republican	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	Jacksonian Democratic-Republican
	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1829	Jackson
Robert W. Barnwell	March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1831	Jackson	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
	March 4, 1831 – March 3, 1833	Nullifier
William J. Grayson	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1837	Nullifier	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Robert Rhett	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843	Democratic	Redistricted to the 7th district
Richard F. Simpson	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1849	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
James L. Orr	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1853	Democratic	Redistricted to the 5th district
William Aiken, Jr.	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1857	Democratic	Redistricted from the 6th district
William P. Miles	March 4, 1857 – December 24, 1860	Democratic	Retired
Civil War – Occupation and Reconstruction	December 24, 1860 – July 20, 1868
Christopher C. Bowen	July 20, 1868 – March 3, 1871	Republican	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Robert C. De Large	March 4, 1871 – January 24, 1873	Republican	Seat declared vacant
Alonzo J. Ransier	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875	Republican	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Edmund W.M. Mackey	March 4, 1875 – July 19, 1876	Independent Republican	Seat declared vacant
Charles W. Buttz	November 7, 1876 – March 3, 1877	Republican	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Richard H. Cain	March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1879	Republican	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Michael P. O'Connor	March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1881	Democratic	contested election at end of term
Samuel Dibble	June 9, 1881 – May 31, 1882	Democratic	lost contested election
Edmund W.M. Mackey	May 31, 1882 – March 3, 1883	Republican	Redistricted to the 7th district
George D. Tillman	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1893	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
W. Jasper Talbert	March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1903	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
George W. Croft	March 4, 1903 – March 10, 1904	Democratic	Died
Theodore G. Croft	May 17, 1904 – March 3, 1905	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
James O'H. Patterson	March 4, 1905 – March 3, 1911	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
James F. Byrnes	March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1925	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Butler B. Hare	March 4, 1925 – March 3, 1933	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Hampton Fulmer	March 4, 1933 – October 19, 1944	Democratic	Redistricted from the 7th district Died
Willa L. Fulmer	November 7, 1944 – January 3, 1945	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
John J. Riley	January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1949	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Hugo S. Sims, Jr.	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1951	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
John J. Riley	January 3, 1951 – January 1, 1962	Democratic	Died
Corinne Boyd Riley	April 10, 1962 – January 3, 1963	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Albert Watson	January 3, 1963 – February 1, 1965	Democratic	Resigned
	June 15, 1965 – January 3, 1971	Republican	Re-elected to finish his term as a Republican
Floyd Spence	January 3, 1971 – August 16, 2001	Republican	Died
Joe Wilson	December 18, 2001 – Present	Republican	First elected to finish Spence's term
Name	Tenure	Party	Electoral history

Historical district boundaries

1995 - 2013^[2]

See also

• South Carolina's congressional districts
• List of United States congressional districts

References

1. ↑ "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017. 
2. ↑ "The national atlas". nationalatlas.gov. Retrieved February 22, 2014. 

• 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 South Carolina congressmen

Coordinates: 33°26′N 81°18′W / 33.43°N 81.30°W / 33.43; -81.30