South Carolina's 5th congressional district

The 5th congressional district of South Carolina is a congressional district in northern South Carolina bordering North Carolina. The district includes all of Cherokee, Chester, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lancaster, Lee, Union and York counties and parts of Newberry, Spartanburg and Sumter counties. Outside the rapidly growing cities of Rock Hill, Fort Mill, and Lake Wylie the district is mostly rural and agricultural. The district borders were contracted from some of the easternmost counties in the 2012 redistricting.

South Carolina's 5th congressional district
South Carolina's 5th congressional district since January 3, 2013
Representative	Ralph Norman R–Rock Hill
Population (2019)	738,205
Median household income	$56,282[1]
Ethnicity	66.7% White 28.6% Black 1.6% Hispanic 1.2% other 1.1% Asian 0.4% Native American
Cook PVI	R+9[2]

The district's character is very similar to other mostly rural districts in the South. Democrats still hold most offices outside Republican-dominated York County. However, few of the area's Democrats can be described as liberal by national standards; most are fairly conservative on social issues, but less so on economics. The largest blocs of Republican voters are in the fast-growing suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina and Cherokee County, which shares the Republican tilt of most of the rest of the Upstate. York County is by far the largest county in the district, with almost one-third of its population, and its Republican bent has pushed the district as a whole into the Republican column in recent years.

In November 2010, the Republican Mick Mulvaney defeated longtime Congressman John Spratt and became the first Republican since Robert Smalls and the end of Reconstruction to represent the district. Following Mulvaney's confirmation as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, a special election was held in 2017 to determine his successor. Republican Ralph Norman narrowly won the special election against Archie Parnell.[3]

History

From 2003 to 2013 the district included all of Cherokee, Chester, Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lancaster, Marlboro, Newberry and York counties and parts of Florence, Lee and Sumter counties.

Election results from presidential races

Year	Result
2004	George W. Bush 57 - 42%
2008	John McCain 53.04 - 45.8%
2012	Mitt Romney 55.1 - 43.6%
2016	Donald Trump 57.3 - 38.8%
2020	Donald Trump 58.4 - 41.5%

List of members representing the district

Member (Residence)	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history	District location
Thomas Tudor Tucker [data unknown/missing]	Anti-Administration	March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1793	1st 2nd	Elected in 1788. Re-elected in 1790. [data unknown/missing]	1789–1793 "Ninety-Six district" South Carolina congressional districts   1st district, "Charleston"   2nd district, "Beaufort-Orangeburg"   3rd district, "Georgetown-Cheraw"   4th district, "Camden"   5th district, "Ninety-Six"
Alexander Gillon [data unknown/missing]	Anti-Administration	March 4, 1793 – October 6, 1794	3rd	Elected in 1793. Died.	1793–1797 "Ninety-Six district" (Map unknown)
Vacant		October 6, 1794 – February 9, 1795
Robert Goodloe Harper [data unknown/missing]	Pro-Administration	February 9, 1795 – March 3, 1795	3rd 4th 5th 6th	Elected October 13–14, 1794 to finish Gillon's term and elected the same day to the next term. Re-elected in 1796. Re-elected in 1798. Retired.
	Federalist	March 4, 1795 – March 3, 1801
					1797–1803 "Ninety-Six district" 1796 election results by district
William Butler (Mount Willing)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1801 – March 3, 1803	7th	Elected in 1800. Redistricted to the 2nd district.
Richard Winn (Winnsboro)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1813	8th 9th 10th 11th 12th	Redistricted from the 4th district and re-elected in 1803. Re-elected in 1804. Re-elected in 1806. Re-elected in 1808. Re-elected in 1810. [data unknown/missing]	1803–1813 "Sumter district"
David R. Evans (Winnsboro)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1815	13th	Elected in 1812. Retired.	1813–1823 "Newberry district"
William Woodward ([data unknown/missing])	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817	14th	Elected in 1814. Lost re-election.
Starling Tucker (Mountain Shoals)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1823	15th 16th 17th	Elected in 1816. Re-elected in 1818. Re-elected in 1818. Re-elected in 1820. Redistricted to the 9th district.
George McDuffie (Charleston)	Democratic-Republican (Jackson)	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd	Elected in 1823. Re-elected in 1824. Re-elected in 1826. Re-elected in 1828. Re-elected in 1830. Re-elected in 1833. Re-elected in 1834. Resigned to become Governor of South Carolina.	1823–1833 "Edgefield district"
	Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1831
	Nullifier	March 4, 1831 – 1834
					1833–1843 [data unknown/missing]
Vacant		1834 – December 8, 1834	23rd
Francis W. Pickens (Edgefield)	Nullifier	December 8, 1834 – March 3, 1839	23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th	Elected to finish McDuffie's term. [data unknown/missing]
	Democratic	March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1843
Armistead Burt (Abbeville)	Democratic	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1853	28th 29th 30th 31st 32nd	[data unknown/missing]	1843–1853 [data unknown/missing]
James L. Orr (Anderson)	Democratic	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1859	33rd 34th 35th	[data unknown/missing]	1853–1863 [data unknown/missing]
John D. Ashmore (Greenville)	Democratic	March 4, 1859 – December 21, 1860	36th	[data unknown/missing] Resigned.
Vacant		December 21, 1860 – March 3, 1863	36th 37th	Civil War
District eliminated March 4, 1863
District re-established March 4, 1875
Robert Smalls (Beaufort)	Republican	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1879	44th 45th	[data unknown/missing]	1875–1883 [data unknown/missing]
George D. Tillman (Edgefield)	Democratic	March 4, 1879 – July 19, 1882	46th 47th	Lost contested election
Robert Smalls (Beaufort)	Republican	July 19, 1882 – March 3, 1883	47th	Won contested election
John J. Hemphill (Chester)	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1893	48th 49th 50th 51st 52nd	[data unknown/missing]	1883–1893 [data unknown/missing]
Thomas J. Strait (Lancaster)	Democratic	March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1899	53rd 54th 55th	[data unknown/missing]	1893–1903 [data unknown/missing]
David E. Finley (York)	Democratic	March 4, 1899 – January 26, 1917	56th 57th 58th 59th 60th 61st 62nd 63rd 64th	[data unknown/missing] Died.
1903–1913 [data unknown/missing]
1913–1923 [data unknown/missing]
	Vacant		January 26, 1917 – February 21, 1917	64th
	Paul G. McCorkle (York)	Democratic	February 21, 1917 – March 3, 1917		[data unknown/missing]
	William F. Stevenson (Cheraw)	Democratic	March 4, 1917 – March 3, 1933	65th 66th 67th 68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd	[data unknown/missing]
1923–1933 [data unknown/missing]
James P. Richards (Lancaster)	Democratic	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1957	73rd 74th 75th 76th 77th 78th 79th 80th 81st 82nd 83rd 84th	[data unknown/missing]	1933–1943 [data unknown/missing]
1943–1953 [data unknown/missing]
1953–1963 [data unknown/missing]
	Robert W. Hemphill (Chester)	Democratic	January 3, 1957 – May 1, 1964	85th 86th 87th 88th	[data unknown/missing] Resigned to become Judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina
1963–1973 [data unknown/missing]
	Vacant		May 1, 1964 – November 3, 1964	88th
	Thomas S. Gettys (Rock Hill)	Democratic	November 3, 1964 – December 31, 1974	88th 89th 90th 91st 92nd 93rd	[data unknown/missing]
1973–1983 [data unknown/missing]
	Kenneth L. Holland (Gaffney)	Democratic	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1983	94th 95th 96th 97th	[data unknown/missing]
John Spratt (York)	Democratic	January 3, 1983 – January 3, 2011	98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.	1983–1993 [data unknown/missing]
1993–2003 [data unknown/missing]
2003–2013 [data unknown/missing]
	Mick Mulvaney (Lancaster)	Republican	January 3, 2011 – February 16, 2017	112th 113th 114th 115th	[data unknown/missing] Resigned to become Director of the Office of Management and Budget
2013–Present [data unknown/missing]
	Vacant		February 16, 2017 – June 20, 2017	115th
	Ralph Norman (Rock Hill)	Republican	June 20, 2017[3] – present	115th 116th 117th	Elected to finish Mulvaney's term. Re-elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020.

Historical district boundaries

2003 - 2013

Election results

2012

South Carolina's 5th congressional district, 2012[4][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mick Mulvaney (incumbent)	154,324	55.5
	Democratic	Joyce Knott	123,443	44.4
	n/a	Write-ins	236	0.1
Total votes			278,003	100.0
	Republican hold

2014

South Carolina's 5th congressional district, 2014[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mick Mulvaney (incumbent)	103,078	58.9
	Democratic	Tom Adams	71,985	41.1
	n/a	Write-ins	82	0.0
Total votes			175,145	100.0
	Republican hold

2016

South Carolina's 5th congressional district, 2016 [7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mick Mulvaney (incumbent)	161,669	59.2
	Democratic	Fran Person	105,772	38.7
	American	Rudy Barnes Jr	5,388	2.0
	n/a	Write-ins	177	0.1
Total votes			273,006	100.0
	Republican hold

2017 special

General election results[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Ralph Norman	45,076	51.04%	-8.03%
	Democratic	Archie Parnell	42,341	47.94%	+9.17%
	American	Josh Thornton	319	0.36%	-1.74%
	Libertarian	Victor Kocher	273	0.31%	N/A
	Green	David Kulma	242	0.27%	N/A
	Write-in	Write-in	65	0.07%	0.0%
Total votes			88,316	100.00%
Majority			2,836	3.23%
Turnout			88,316	18.24%
	Republican win

2018

South Carolina's 5th congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph Norman (incumbent)	141,757	57.0
	Democratic	Archie Parnell	103,129	41.5
	Constitution	Michael Chandler	3,443	1.4
	n/a	Write-ins	250	0.1
Total votes			248,579	100.0
	Republican hold

2020

South Carolina's 5th congressional district, 2020[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph Norman (incumbent)	220,006	60.1
	Democratic	Moe Brown	145,979	39.9
	Write-in		273	0.1
Total votes			366,258	100.0
	Republican hold

In popular culture

• In the first season of House of Cards, protagonist Frank Underwood represents the district in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat.

See also

• South Carolina's congressional districts
• List of United States congressional districts

References

1. https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=45&cd=05
2. "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
3. https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/south-carolina-house-special-election
8. "Special Election – U.S. House District 5, State House Districts 48 and 70 – June 20, 2017". South Carolina State Election Commission. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
9. "2020 Statewide General Election Night Reporting - Results". South Carolina Election Commission. November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.

• 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