Indiana's 8th congressional district (since 2023)

Indiana's 8th congressional district is a

congressional district Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

. Based in southwest and west central Indiana, the district is anchored in

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

and also includes

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

Terre Haute Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attache ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Commonly referred to as "The Bloody Eighth" at the local (and sometimes national) levels (See below for explanation), it was formerly a notorious swing district. However, due to a political realignment, it has in recent elections become a safe Republican district.

Election results from presidential races

Counties located within the district

As of 2023, Indiana’s 8th congressional district is located in southwest and west central Indiana. It includes Clay, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Greene, Knox, Martin, Owen, Parke, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Sullivan, Vanderburgh, Vermillion, Vigo, and Warrick Counties, and half of

Fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were ori ...

. Fountain County is split between this district and the

4th district Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

. They are partitioned on the western border by Indiana State Rt 32, East Prairie Chapel Rd, and South New Liberty Rd, and on the southeastern border by North Sandhill Rd, Indiana West 260N, North Portland Arch Rd, West County Home Rd, and Indiana West 450N. The 8th district takes in the 5 townships of Fulton,

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

, Millcreek, Van Buren, and Wabash, as well as most of the township of

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

and part of the township of

Cain Cain ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl/Qāyīn is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He ...

Cities of 10,000 or more people

(2010 Census) *

- 117,429 *

- 60,785 *

- 18,423 *

- 15,038 *

- 11,509

2,500 - 10,000 people

(2010 Census) *

- 8,644 *

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

- 7,912 *

Tell City Tell City is a city in Troy Township, Perry County, in the U.S. state of Indiana, along the Ohio River. The population was 7,272 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Perry County. History Tell City traces its 150+ year old roots ...

- 7,272 * Mt. Vernon - 6,687 * Boonville - 6,246 *

Linton Linton may refer to: Places Australia * Linton, Victoria Canada * Linton, Ontario * Linton, Quebec United Kingdom England * Linton, Cambridgeshire * Linton, Derbyshire * Linton (near Bromyard), Herefordshire * Linton (near Ross-on-Wye), Her ...

- 5,413 * Clinton - 4,893 * North Terre Haute - 4,305 * Sullivan - 4,249 * Newburgh - 3,325 *

Fort Branch Fort Branch was a fort built by the Confederate Army especially to defend against attacks from the Union Army along the Roanoke River in North Carolina. The fort was originally built in 1862 along Rainbow Banks in Martin County, southeast of Ham ...

- 2,771 * Bicknell - 2,892

History

Based in

, the 8th Congressional District was widened when Indiana lost a seat after the

2000 U.S. Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...

to include much of the former 5th and 7th Congressional Districts. At that time, Bloomington (the home of former U.S. Representative

Frank McCloskey Francis Xavier McCloskey (June 12, 1939 – November 2, 2003) was an American journalist, lawyer, and politician from Indiana who served in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from 1983 to 1995. Early life and education He ...

) was moved into the 9th Congressional District, while the 8th Congressional District was extended northward to include much of the former 7th Congressional District in west-central Indiana, including

. As a result of this expansion, the district is the largest in area in Indiana with all or part of 18 counties. The district has been nicknamed "The Bloody Eighth" because of a series of hard-fought campaigns and political reversals. Unlike most other districts in the state, which tend to give their representatives long tenures in Washington, the 8th Congressional District has a reputation for frequently ousting incumbents from both parties. Since 1983, no one has held the seat or its predecessors for longer than 12 years. Voters in the district ousted six incumbents from 1966 to 1982. The election in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

was so close that the House of Representatives itself determined which of two candidates to seat, accepting the recommendation of the Democratic-controlled House task force sent to Indiana to count the ballots. Democratic incumbent

ultimately won by a margin of four votes out of 233,000 cast. After that, McCloskey was reelected four more times before losing to Republican

John Hostettler John Nathan Hostettler (born July 19, 1961) is an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 1995, to January 3, 2007, representing the Indiana's 8th congressional district. He lost his reelectio ...

in 1994, amid the

Republican Revolution The "Republican Revolution", "Revolution of '94", or "Gingrich Revolution" are political slogans that refer to the Republican Party (GOP) success in the 1994 U.S. mid-term elections, which resulted in a net gain of 54 seats in the House of ...

. Hostettler represented the district for six terms before being defeated in a landslide by moderate Democrat

Brad Ellsworth John Bradley Ellsworth (born September 11, 1958) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 to 2011. In 2010, he was the Democratic candidate for a seat in the United States Senate, but he was defeated by Dan Coats, ...

in 2006. It was the first district picked up by the Democrats that year, and was one of thirty nationwide that they gained while regaining control of the House. Ellsworth ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2010 and was succeeded by Republican

Larry Bucshon Larry Dean Bucshon ( ; born May 31, 1962) is an American politician and physician who has been the U.S. representative for since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Early life, education, and early career Bucshon was born in Taylo ...

in the same election cycle. Although Southern Indiana is ancestrally Democratic, the Democrats in this area are nowhere near as liberal as their counterparts in the rest of the state. Historically, it had a character similar to Yellow Dog Democrat districts in neighboring

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. The district also has a strong tint of

social conservatism Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institut ...

. In 2000, a ''New York Times'' reporter said of the district: "With a populist streak and a conservative bent, this district does not cotton to country club Republicans or to social-engineering liberals," and also said, "More than 95 percent white and about 41 percent rural, the region shares much of the flavor of the

Bible Belt The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States in which socially conservative Protestant Christianity plays a strong role in society and politics, and church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's a ...

."Dirk Johnson
"The 2000 Campaign: An Indiana Race; Conservatives Face Off in Quirky Populist District"
''New York Times'', October 10, 2000 In 2013, the district shifted and was pushed southward toward Evansville, losing Fountain and Warren Counties, and gaining Dubois, Perry, and Spencer Counties, and a portion of Crawford County, uniting southwestern Indiana under one district.

List of members representing the district

Election results

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

Historical district boundaries

Note: There has been another change since the "most recent" image, reflected correctly on the 'Indiana districts' page.

References

* *
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
{{USCongDistStateIN 08 Southwestern Indiana West Central Indiana Clay County, Indiana Daviess County, Indiana Fountain County, Indiana Gibson County, Indiana Greene County, Indiana Knox County, Indiana Martin County, Indiana Owen County, Indiana Parke County, Indiana Pike County, Indiana Posey County, Indiana Putnam County, Indiana Sullivan County, Indiana Vanderburgh County, Indiana Vermillion County, Indiana Vigo County, Indiana Warren County, Indiana Warrick County, Indiana Evansville, Indiana Terre Haute, Indiana Vincennes, Indiana 1843 establishments in Indiana Constituencies established in 1843