Alabama's 5th congressional district

"AL-5" redirects here. For the state route, see Alabama State Route 5.

Alabama's 5th congressional district
Current Representative		Mo Brooks (R–Huntsville)
Area	4,689 mi²
Distribution	59.4% urban, 40.6% rural
Population (2000)	635,300
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

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 Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison and Jackson. It also includes parts of Morgan County.

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.

The district from 2003 to 2013

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.

The district hasn't supported a Democrat for President since Jimmy Carter's successful run in 1976. Democrats, however, hold most offices at the local level, as well as most of the district's seats in the Alabama state legislature, until the Republican historic election of November 2010 in north Alabama. 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%.

Voting

Election results from statewide races
Year	Office	Results
2012	President	Romney 64 - 35%
2008	President	McCain 61 - 38%
2004	President	Bush 60 - 39%
2000	President	Bush 54 - 44%

List of representatives

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

Congress	Years	Representative	Party	Electoral history
23rd	March 4, 1833	District created
	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835	John Murphy	Jacksonian	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
24th	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837	Francis Strother Lyon	Anti-Jacksonian	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
25th	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1839		Whig	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
26th	March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1841	James Dellet	Whig	[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	March 4, 1843 – March 4, 1849	George S. Houston	Democratic	Redistricted from the At-large district
31st	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851	David Hubbard	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
32nd – 36th	March 4, 1851 – January 21, 1861	George S. Houston	Democratic	Withdrew
37th – 39th	(1861–1868)	Civil War and Reconstruction
40th	July 21, 1868 – March 3, 1869	John Benton Callis	Republican	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
41st – 42nd	March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1873	Peter Myndert Dox	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
43rd – 44th	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1877	John Henry Caldwell	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
45th	March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1879	Robert Fulwood Ligon	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
46th – 48th	March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1885	Thomas Williams	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
49th	March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1887	Thomas William Sadler	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
50th – 54th	March 4, 1887 – April 21, 1896	James E. Cobb	Democratic	Lost contested election
54th	April 21, 1896 – March 3, 1897	Albert Taylor Goodwyn	Populist	Won contested election
55th – 56th	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1901	Willis Brewer	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
57th – 58th	March 4, 1901 – March 20, 1904	Charles Winston Thompson	Democratic	Died
58th – 66th	May 19, 1904 – November 1, 1920	J. Thomas Heflin	Democratic	Resigned to fill US Senate seat
66th – 70th	December 14, 1920 – August 16, 1928	William B. Bowling	Democratic	Resigned after being appointed judge for 5th Alabama Circuit
70th – 71st	Nobvember 6, 1928 – March 3, 1933	LaFayette L. Patterson	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
73rd	March 3, 1933 – January 3, 1935	Miles C. Allgood	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
74th – 78th	January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1945	Joe Starnes	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
79th – 87th	January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1963	Albert Rains	Democratic	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	January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1969	Armistead I. Selden, Jr.	Democratic	Redistricted from the At-large district
92nd	January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1973	Walter Flowers	Democratic	Redistricted to the 7th district
93rd – 94th	January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1977	Robert E. Jones, Jr.	Democratic	Redistricted from the 8th district
95th – 101st	January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1991	Ronnie G. Flippo	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
102nd – 110th	January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2009	Bud Cramer	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
111th	January 3, 2009 – December 22, 2009	Parker Griffith	Democratic	Switched parties
	December 22, 2009 – January 3, 2011		Republican	Lost primary
112th – 113th	January 3, 2011 – Present	Mo Brooks	Republican

Recent election results

2004

Main article: U.S. House election, 2004

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic Party	Robert E. Cramer	200,999	73.1
	Republican Party	Gerry Wallace	74,145	26.9

2006

Main article: U.S. House election, 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic Party	Robert E. Cramer	unopposed	100

2008

Main article: U.S. House election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic Party	Parker Griffith*	156,529	52
	Republican Party	Wayne Parker	147,190	48

*Griffith switched party affiliation on December 22, 2009, and finished his term as a Republican.

2010

Main article: U.S. House election, 2010

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican Party	Mo Brooks	130,927	57.9
	Democratic Party	Steve Raby	95,078	42.1

2012

Main article: U.S. House election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican Party	Mo Brooks	188,833	65
	Democratic Party	Charlie Holley	101,504	35

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