South Carolina's 2nd congressional district
South Carolina's 2nd congressional district | |||
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Representative |
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Population (2000) | 668,668 | ||
Median household income | 42,915 | ||
Ethnicity |
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Cook PVI | R+14 |
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 was defined in 1933, following South Carolina losing a seat in apportionment as a result of the 1930 Census showing state population loss. 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, urbanized district in the central part of the state. As a result of the 1990 census, the state legislature worked to redefine some of the districts. In a deal between Republicans and Democrats, the 6th congressional district was redefined to incorporate most of the black residents in the area and create a majority-minority district. The 2nd district was expanded to the south and west to gain other, mostly white residents in compensation.
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 missing] |
Robert Barnwell | March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1793 |
Pro-Administration | [data missing] |
John Hunter | March 4, 1793 – March 3, 1795 |
Anti-Administration | [data missing] |
Wade Hampton | March 4, 1795 – March 3, 1797 |
Democratic-Republican | [data missing] |
John Rutledge, Jr. | March 4, 1797 – March 3, 1803 |
Federalist | [data missing] |
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 missing] |
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 missing] |
March 4, 1831 – March 3, 1833 |
Nullifier | ||
William J. Grayson | March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1837 |
Nullifier | [data missing] |
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 missing] |
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 missing] |
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 missing] |
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 missing] |
Richard H. Cain | March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1879 |
Republican | [data missing] |
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 missing] |
W. Jasper Talbert | March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1903 |
Democratic | [data missing] |
George W. Croft | March 4, 1903 – March 10, 1904 |
Democratic | Died |
Theodore G. Croft | May 17, 1904 – March 3, 1905 |
Democratic | [data missing] |
James O'H. Patterson | March 4, 1905 – March 3, 1911 |
Democratic | [data missing] |
James F. Byrnes | March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1925 |
Democratic | [data missing] |
Butler B. Hare | March 4, 1925 – March 3, 1933 |
Democratic | [data missing] |
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 missing] |
John J. Riley | January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1949 |
Democratic | [data missing] |
Hugo S. Sims, Jr. | January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1951 |
Democratic | [data missing] |
John J. Riley | January 3, 1951 – January 1, 1962 |
Democratic | Died |
Corinne Boyd Riley | April 10, 1962 – January 3, 1963 |
Democratic | [data missing] |
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
See also
References
This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (September 2009) |
- ^ "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.
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(help) - Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
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(help) - Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
- Political Graveyard database of South Carolina congressmen
- Congressional districts of South Carolina
- Aiken County, South Carolina
- Allendale County, South Carolina
- Barnwell County, South Carolina
- Beaufort County, South Carolina
- Calhoun County, South Carolina
- Hampton County, South Carolina
- Jasper County, South Carolina
- Lexington County, South Carolina
- Orangeburg County, South Carolina
- Richland County, South Carolina
- 1933 establishments in South Carolina