Maryland's 6th congressional district

Maryland's 6th congressional district
Maryland's 6th congressional district since January 3, 2013
Representative	David Trone D–Potomac
Area	3,062.27 sq mi (7,931.2 km2)
Distribution	84.49% urban 15.51% rural
Population (2015)	761,921
Median household income	$79,247
Ethnicity	68% White 14% Black 13% Hispanic 11% Asian 7% other 0.1% Native American 0% Pacific Islander Americans
Cook PVI	D+6

Maryland's 6th congressional district elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives from the northwest part of the state. Today the district comprises all of Garrett, Allegany, and Washington counties as well as portions of Montgomery and Frederick counties. The seat is currently represented by David Trone (D).

The current boundaries of the district were the subject of a Supreme Court lawsuit over partisan gerrymandering. The court ruled that taking into account partisan advantage when redistributing is "not judiciable" in Federal courts, leaving it to the states.

History

The Maryland 6th District was one of the original districts that had a congressman starting in 1789. At that time, the district essentially had what remains its modern boundaries, consisting of the Maryland panhandle and areas eastward, all the way to the modern western boundary of the District of Columbia. However, after the 1790 census Maryland's representation increased to 8 congresspersons. The new sixth district was in the north-east corner of the state east of Baltimore, covering essentially the modern counties of Harford, Cecil and Kent.

In 2012 the district was found to be the ninth least compact congressional district in the United States.

For years, the 6th was a mostly rural and conservative district anchored in western Maryland. It was in Republican hands for all but one term from 1943 to 1971, before conservative Democrat Goodloe Byron won it in 1971. He died in 1978 and was succeeded by his widow, Beverly, who held it for seven terms before being ousted by a more liberal challenger in the 1992 Democratic primary. Republican Roscoe Bartlett won the general election, and was reelected without serious challenge nine more times.

However, redistricting after the 2010 census significantly altered the 6th. It lost heavily Republican Carroll County, as well as the more rural and conservative portions of Frederick County, to the 8th District. It also lost its shares of Baltimore and Harford counties to the already heavily Republican 1st District. Taking their place was a heavily Democratic spur of western Montgomery County, which was connected to the rest of the district by a tendril in Frederick County.

The new map turned the 6th from a heavily Republican district into a Democratic-leaning district. While John McCain carried the 6th with 57 percent of the vote in 2008, Barack Obama would have carried the new 6th with 56 percent. This was mainly because the Montgomery County portion had almost three times as many people as the rest of the district combined.

In his bid for an 11th term, Bartlett was defeated by Democrat John Delaney, who lives in the Montgomery County portion of the district, by over 21 points.

Proving just how Democratic this district was, in 2014, Delaney narrowly won a second term against Republican Dan Bongino. Delaney only won one county in the district. However, that one county was Montgomery, where Bongino lost by over 20,500 votes.

In 2013, Republican voters filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that the Democratic legislature and Governor Martin O'Malley had engaged in partisan gerrymandering, redrawing the 6th district after the 2010 census in a way that intentionally and unconstitutionally diluted Republican voters by including parts of the heavily Democratic Washington suburbs. A federal district judge initially dismissed the lawsuit, as did the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, for failure to state a claim. The Republicans appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously in 2015 that the lower courts had improperly dismissed the case. The case went back to the lower courts where a three judge panel ruled that the Republicans could not prove that John Delaney's election in 2012 was a result of the redistricting. Republican voters again appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case, Benisek v. Lamone, in December 2017. In June 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that questions of partisan gerrymandering represented a nonjusticiable political question and remanded the case back to the district court with instructions to dismiss the case.

Recent results in statewide elections

Year	Office	Results
2000	U.S. President	Bush 61% – 36%
2004	U.S. President	Bush 65% – 34%
2008	U.S. President	McCain 58% – 40%
2012	U.S. President	Obama 55.4% – 42.6%
2016	U.S. President	H. Clinton 55.8% – 39.7%

List of members representing the district

	Member	Party	Years	Con- gress	Electoral history
1	Daniel Carroll	Pro-Administration	March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1791	1st	Elected in 1789. Lost re-election.
2	Upton Sheredine	Anti-Administration	March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1793	2nd	Elected in 1790. [data missing]
3	Gabriel Christie	Anti-Administration	March 4, 1793 – March 3, 1795	3rd 4th	Elected in 1792. Re-elected in 1794. Lost re-election.
		Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1795 – March 3, 1797
4	William Matthews	Federalist	March 4, 1797 – March 3, 1799	5th	Elected in 1796. Retired.
5	Gabriel Christie	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1799 – March 3, 1801	6th	Elected in 1798. Retired.
6	John Archer	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1801 – March 3, 1807	7th 8th 9th	Re-elected in 1801. Re-elected in 1803. Re-elected in 1804. Lost re-election.
7	John Montgomery	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1807 – April 29, 1811	10th 11th 12th	Elected in 1806. Re-elected in 1808. Re-elected in 1810. Resigned after appointment as Attorney General of Maryland.
Vacant			April 29, 1811 – October 26, 1811	12th
8	Stevenson Archer	Democratic-Republican	October 26, 1811 – March 3, 1817	12th 13th 14th	Elected to finish Montgomery's term. Re-elected in 1812. Re-elected in 1814. Lost re-election.
9	Philip Reed	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1817– March 3, 1819	15th	Elected in 1816. Lost re-election.
10	Stevenson Archer	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1819– March 3, 1821	16th	Elected in 1818. Retired.
11	Jeremiah Cosden	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1821 – March 19, 1822	17th	Elected in 1820. Election contested.
12	Philip Reed	Democratic-Republican	March 19, 1822 – March 3, 1823	17th	Contested 1820 election. Lost re-election.
13	George E. Mitchell	Adams-Clay Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	18th 19th	Elected in 1822. Re-elected in 1824. Retired.
		Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1827
14	Levin Gale	Jacksonian	March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1829	20th	Elected in 1826. Retired.
15	George E. Mitchell	Jacksonian	December 7, 1829 – June 28, 1832	21st 22nd	Elected in 1829. Re-elected in 1831. Died.
Vacant			June 28, 1832 – October 1, 1832	22nd
16	Charles S. Sewall	Jacksonian	October 1, 1832 – March 3, 1833		Elected to finish Mitchell's term. [data missing]
17	William C. Johnson	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835	23rd	Elected in 1833. Retired.
18	Francis Thomas	Jacksonian	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837	24th 25th 26th	Redistricted from the 7th district and re-elected in 1835. Re-elected in 1837. Re-elected in 1839. Retired to run for Governor of Maryland.
		Democratic	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1841
19	John T. Mason Jr.	Democratic	March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843	27th	Elected in 1841. [data missing]
20	Thomas A. Spence	Whig	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845	28th	Elected late in 1844. Retired.
21	Edward H. C. Long	Whig	March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1847	29th	Elected in 1845. Retired.
22	John W. Crisfield	Whig	March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849	30th	Elected in 1847. [data missing]
23	John B. Kerr	Whig	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851	31st	Elected in 1849. Retired.
24	Joseph S. Cottman	Independent Whig	March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853	32nd	Elected in 1851. Lost re-election.
25	Augustus R. Sollers	Whig	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855	33rd	Elected in 1853. [data missing]
26	Thomas F. Bowie	Democratic	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1859	34th 35th	Elected in 1855. Re-elected in 1857. Lost re-election.
27	George W. Hughes	Democratic	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861	36th	Elected in 1859. [data missing]
28	Charles B. Calvert	Unionist	March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863	37th	Elected in 1861. Retired.
Seat abolished after the census of 1860, but was reinstated after the census of 1870.
29	Lloyd Lowndes Jr.	Republican	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875	43rd	Elected in 1872. Lost re-election.
30	William Walsh	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1879	44th 45th	Elected in 1874. Re-elected in 1876. Retired.
31	Milton G. Urner	Republican	March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1883	46th 47th	Elected in 1878. Re-elected in 1880. Retired.
32	Louis E. McComas	Republican	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1891	48th 49th 50th 51st	Elected in 1882. Re-elected in 1884. Re-elected in 1886. Re-elected in 1888. Lost re-election.
33	William M. McKaig	Democratic	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1895	52nd 53rd	Elected in 1890. Re-elected in 1892. Retired.
34	George Louis Wellington	Republican	March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897	54th	Elected in 1894. Retired after election as a U.S. senator.
35	John McDonald	Republican	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1899	55th	Elected in 1896. [data missing]
36	George A. Pearre	Republican	March 4, 1899 – March 3, 1911	56th 57th 58th 59th 60th 61st	Elected in 1898. Re-elected in 1900. Re-elected in 1902. Re-elected in 1904. Re-elected in 1906. Re-elected in 1908. Retired.
37	David J. Lewis	Democratic	March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1917	62nd 63rd 64th	Elected in 1910. Re-elected in 1912. Re-elected in 1914. Retired.
38	Frederick N. Zihlman	Republican	March 4, 1917 – March 3, 1931	65th 66th 67th 68th 69th 70th 71st	Elected in 1916. Re-elected in 1918. Re-elected in 1920. Re-elected in 1922. Re-elected in 1924. Re-elected in 1926. Re-elected in 1928. Lost re-election.
39	David J. Lewis	Democratic	March 4, 1931 – January 3, 1939	72nd 73rd 74th 75th	Elected in 1930. Re-elected in 1932. Re-elected in 1934. Re-elected in 1936. Retired.
40	William D. Byron	Democratic	January 3, 1939 – February 27, 1941	76th 77th	Elected in 1938. Re-elected in 1940. Died.
Vacant			February 27, 1941 – May 27, 1941	77th
41	Katharine Byron	Democratic	May 27, 1941 – January 3, 1943		Elected to finish her husband's term (see Widow's succession). Retired.
42	James G. Beall	Republican	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1953	78th 79th 80th 81st 82nd	Elected in 1942. Re-elected in 1944. Re-elected in 1946. Re-elected in 1948. Re-elected in 1950. Retired after election as a U.S. senator.
43	DeWitt S. Hyde	Republican	January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1959	83rd 84th 85th	Elected in 1952. Re-elected in 1954. Re-elected in 1956. Lost re-election.
44	John R. Foley	Democratic	January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1961	86th	Elected in 1958. Lost re-election.
45	Charles M. Mathias Jr.	Republican	January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1969	87th 88th 89th 90th	Elected in 1960. Re-elected in 1962. Re-elected in 1964. Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
46	John G. Beall Jr.	Republican	January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1971	91st	Elected in 1968. Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
47	Goodloe E. Byron	Democratic	January 3, 1971 – October 11, 1978	92nd 93rd 94th 95th	Elected in 1970. Re-elected in 1972. Re-elected in 1974. Re-elected in 1976. Died.
48	Beverly Byron	Democratic	January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1993	96th 97th 98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd	Elected in 1978. Re-elected in 1980. Re-elected in 1982. Re-elected in 1984. Re-elected in 1986. Re-elected in 1988. Re-elected in 1990. Lost renomination.
49	Roscoe Bartlett	Republican	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2013	103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th 112th	Elected in 1992. Re-elected in 1994. Re-elected in 1996. Re-elected in 1998. Re-elected in 2000. Re-elected in 2002. Re-elected in 2004. Re-elected in 2006. Re-elected in 2008. Re-elected in 2010. Lost re-election after redistricting.
50	John Delaney	Democratic	January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2019	113th 114th 115th	Elected in 2012. Re-elected in 2014. Re-elected in 2016. Retired to run for U.S. President.
51	David Trone	Democratic	January 3, 2019 – Present	116th 117th 118th	Elected in 2018.

Recent election results

1990

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 1990

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Beverly B. Byron (Incumbent)	106,502	65.35
	Republican	Christopher P. Fiotes, Jr.	56,479	34.65
Total votes			162,981	100.00
	Democratic hold

1992

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 1992

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Roscoe Bartlett	125,564	54.17
	Democratic	Thomas H. Hattery	106,224	45.83
Total votes			231,788	100.00
	Republican gain from Democratic

1994

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 1994

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Roscoe Bartlett (Incumbent)	122,809	65.95
	Democratic	Paul Muldowney	63,411	34.05
Total votes			186,220	100.00
	Republican hold

1996

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Roscoe Bartlett (Incumbent)	132,853	56.83
	Democratic	Stephen Crawford	100,910	43.16
	Write-ins		25	0.01
Total votes			233,788	100.00
	Republican hold

1998

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Roscoe Bartlett (Incumbent)	127,802	63.42
	Democratic	Timothy D. McCown	73,728	36.58
Total votes			201,530	100.00
	Republican hold

2000

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 2000

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Roscoe Bartlett (Incumbent)	168,624	60.65
	Democratic	Donald M. DeArmon	109,136	39.25
	Write-ins		285	0.10
Total votes			278,045	100.00
	Republican hold

2002

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Roscoe Bartlett (Incumbent)	147,825	66.17
	Democratic	Donald M. DeArmon	75,575	33.83
Total votes			223,400	100.00
	Republican hold

2004

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 2004

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Roscoe Bartlett (Incumbent)	206,076	67.45
	Democratic	Kenneth T. Bosley	90,108	29.49
	Green	Gregory T. Hemingway	9,324	3.05
Total votes			305,508	100.00
	Republican hold

2006

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Roscoe Bartlett (Incumbent)	141,200	58.97
	Democratic	Andrew J. Duck	92,030	38.43
	Green	Robert E. Kozak	6,095	2.55
	Write-ins		128	0.05
Total votes			239,453	100.00
	Republican hold

2008

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Roscoe Bartlett (Incumbent)	190,926	57.76
	Democratic	Jennifer Dougherty	128,207	38.79
	Libertarian	Gary W. Hoover, Sr.	11,060	3.35
	Write-ins		342	0.10
Total votes			330,535	100.00
	Republican hold

2010

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 2010

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Roscoe Bartlett (Incumbent)	148,820	61.45
	Democratic	Andrew J. Duck	80,455	33.22
	Libertarian	Dan Massey	6,816	2.81
	Constitution	Michael Reed	5,907	2.44
	Write-ins		191	0.08
Total votes			242,189	100.00
	Republican hold

2012

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Delaney	181,921	58.8
	Republican	Roscoe G. Bartlett (Incumbent)	117,313	37.9
	Libertarian	Nickolaus Mueller	9,916	3.2
	N/A	Others (write-in)	399	0.1
Total votes			309,549	100
	Democratic gain from Republican

2014

Maryland's 6th congressional district election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Delaney (Incumbent)	94,704	49.7
	Republican	Dan Bongino	91,930	48.2
	Green	George Gluck	3,762	2
	N/A	Others (write-in)	140	0.1
Total votes			190,536	100
	Democratic hold

2016

Maryland's 6th Congressional District, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Delaney (Incumbent)	185,770	56.0%
	Republican	Amie Hoeber	133,081	40.1%
	Libertarian	David L. Howser	6,889	2.1%
	Green	George Gluck	5,824	1.8%
	Write-in	Ted Athey	103	0.0%
	No party	Write-ins	306	0.1
Total votes			331,973	100
	Democratic hold

2018

Maryland's 6th congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	David Trone	163,346	59.0%
	Republican	Amie Hoeber	105,209	38.0%
	Libertarian	Kevin Caldwell	4,972	1.8
	Green	George Gluck	3,275	1.2
	Independent	Other write-ins	282	0.1
Total votes			277,084	100
	Democratic hold

Historical district boundaries

2003–2013

See also

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

Bibliography

• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present