Florida's 5th congressional district is a
congressional district in the
U.S. state of
Florida. It extends along Florida's northern boundary from
Jacksonville to
Tallahassee. The district includes all of
Baker
A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery.
History
Ancient history
Since grains ha ...
,
Gadsden Gadsden may refer to:
Places
*Gadsden, Alabama
**Gadsden Depot, a United States Army Depot in the city of Gadsden, Alabama
*Gadsden, Arizona
*Gadsden, Indiana
* Gadsden, South Carolina
* Gadsden, Tennessee
* Gadsden County, Florida
* Gadsden Ind ...
,
Hamilton and
Madison counties and portions of
Columbia
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
,
Duval,
Jefferson, and
Leon counties. It is a
minority-majority district.
As defined by the state legislature in 2013 (which lasted until 2017), the 5th district ran from Jacksonville to
Orlando; it was considered one of the most-
gerrymandered
In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...
congressional districts in the country. Before 2013, similar territory was included the
3rd district.
From 2002 to 2013 the district comprised all of
Citrus,
Hernando, and
Sumter counties and most of
Lake,
Levy, and
Pasco counties and portions of
Marion and
Polk counties. The district included northern
exurbs
An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing density, and growth. It sh ...
of
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
and western exurbs of
Orlando within the high-growth
Interstate 4 Corridor. This iteration of the 5th district is now largely contained in the
11th district
11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables.
Name
"Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...
.
The district is currently represented by
Democrat Al Lawson.
Historical district boundaries
Florida's 3rd Congressional District was renumbered to 5th Congressional District but was little changed in the redistricting process in 2012, still winding from Orlando in the south to central Jacksonville in the north.
From 1973 to 1993 the erstwhile 3rd district was based in
Orange County, including
Walt Disney World and most of
Orlando. The peculiar shape of the 3rd (now 5th) Congressional District dates from
reapportionment
Apportionment is the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionme ...
done by the
Florida Legislature
The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Cons ...
after the
1990 U.S. Census. The 1993–2012 3rd Congressional District was geographically distinctive. Starting from the southern part of the district, it included the
Pine Hills area of the
Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Area with small pockets of
African-American neighborhoods in the cities of
Sanford Sanford may refer to:
People
*Sanford (given name), including a list of people with the name
*Sanford (surname), including a list of people with the name
Places United States
* Sanford, Alabama, a town in Covington County
* Sanford, Colorado, ...
,
Gainesville,
Palatka, and finally the larger African American communities of
Jacksonville.
Connecting these areas were regions which are sparsely populated—either expansive rural areas or narrow strips which are only a few miles wide.
[ Barack Obama received 73% of the vote in this district in the 2008 Presidential election.
]
Court-ordered changes
On July 11, 2014, Florida Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis ruled that this district, along with the neighboring District 10, had been drawn to favor the Republican Party by packing black Democratic voters into District 5.[ On August 1, Judge Lewis gave Florida's state legislature an Aug. 15 deadline to submit new congressional maps for those two districts.
5th District Representative Corrine Brown issued a statement blasting Lewis's decision on the district map as "seriously flawed,"]Marcia Fudge
Marcia Louise Fudge (born October 29, 1952) is an American attorney and politician serving as the 18th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, United States secretary of housing and urban development since 2021. A member of the D ...
sent a sharply worded letter to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is the United States Democratic Party, Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. The DCCC recruits candidates, raises ...
Chairman Steve Israel complaining about the party’s support for the lawsuit challenging Florida's district maps.
Brown said that "we will go all the way to the United States Supreme Court, dealing with making sure that African Americans are not disenfranchised." Florida House Redistricting Chairman Richard Corcoran, a Republican, said that "consideration of political data is legally required" to ensure that district boundaries would not be so shifted as to not allow African-Americans a chance to elect representatives of their choice.
On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court approved a redrawn version of District 5 on December 2, 2015. That plan went into effect for the 2016 elections.
Voting
List of members representing the district
The district was created January 3, 1937.
Election results
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
References
*
*
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
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05
1937 establishments in Florida