Tennessee's 7th congressional district

The 7th congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district located in parts of Middle and West Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican Mark E. Green since January 2019.

Tennessee's 7th congressional district
Tennessee's 7th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Representative	Mark Green R–Ashland City
Distribution	50.71% urban[1] 49.29% rural
Population (2019)	800,536[2]
Median household income	$62,720[2]
Ethnicity	84.48% White 9.84% Black 5.25% Hispanic 1.97% Asian 0.31% Native American
Cook PVI	R+20[3]

Current boundaries

The district is located in both West and Middle Tennessee. It stretches as far north as the Kentucky border, as far south as Mississippi/Alabama border, as far east as Franklin, and as far west as Bolivar.

It is currently composed of the following counties: Chester, Decatur, Giles, Hardeman, Hardin, Henderson, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Lawrence, Lewis, McNairy, Montgomery, Perry, Stewart, Wayne, and Williamson. It also includes significant portions of Benton and Maury.

Characteristics

The seventh district has significant suburban and rural areas. Although most of the area is rural, more than half of the district's vote is cast in either Montgomery County (Clarksville) or Williamson County (Franklin, Brentwood).

By most measures, Williamson County is the wealthiest county in the state and is usually ranked near the top nationally.[4]

The district has a very strong military presence, as it includes Tennessee's share of Fort Campbell.

Politically speaking, the area was secessionist and part of the “Solid South” for a century after the Civil War, excluding the Unionist Highland Rim bloc of Henderson, McNairy, Hardin and Wayne Counties. However, since being carried by George Wallace in 1968 it has become and remained one of the most Republican areas in Tennessee, and has not been represented by a Democrat since the early 1970s. The presence of Nashville's suburbs gives it a character similar to those of most affluent suburban districts in much of the South until the mid-2000s. It has a strong social conservative bent; many of the state's most politically active churches are either located here or draw most of their congregations from here.

The rural secessionist counties are similar demographically to the 8th district and returned to the Democrats until the 2000s; four of the five Tennessee counties won by George McGovern lie within this district. However, since the mid-2000s these counties have turned overwhelmingly Republican in all elections. The only area where Democrats currently compete on anything resembling an even basis is in Clarksville, which still occasionally elects Democrats to the state legislature.

According to the 2010 census the five largest cities entirely within the district are: Clarksville (132,929), Franklin (62,487), Brentwood (38,060), Lawrenceburg (10,428), and Pulaski (7,870).

Election results from presidential races

Year	Office	Result
2000	President	George W. Bush 59% - Al Gore 40%
2004	President	George W. Bush 66% - John Kerry 33%
2008	President	John McCain 65% - Barack Obama 34%
2012	President	Mitt Romney 65% - Barack Obama 33%
2016	President	Donald Trump 67% - Hillary Clinton 28%
2020	President	Donald Trump 66% - Joe Biden 31%

History

Districts stretching from Clarksville to West Tennessee have existed in one form or another since 1871. For most of the time from 1933 to 1983 (except for 1943 to 1953), it was numbered as the 6th district.

This district assumed something approaching its current configuration in 1973, when Tennessee lost a congressional district. At that time, the 6th was redrawn to stretch from Williamson County, south of Nashville, to the eastern suburbs of Memphis and covering the rural areas in between. Republican Robin Beard represented this area from 1973 to 1983.

Tennessee gained a congressional district following the 1980 census. At this time, the district was re-numbered as the 7th and lost its eastern counties to the 4th and 6th districts. At the same time, most of its black residents closer to Memphis were drawn into the 9th district. Following this re-districting, Beard made an unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid, and was replaced by former Shelby County Republican Party chair Don Sundquist.

Sundquist served through the rest of the 1980s through the 1990 re-districting, which saw the district lose some of its rural counties while picking up Maury County.

In 1994, Sundquist successfully ran for Governor of Tennessee, defeating future governor Phil Bredesen. Sundquist was then replaced by Ed Bryant.

Bryant served from 1995 until 2002, when the district was gerrymandered by the Democrat-led Tennessee General Assembly to pack the consistently Republican suburbs of Nashville and Memphis into one district. The result was a district that was 200 miles (320 km) long, but only two miles (3.2 km) wide at some points in the Middle Tennessee portion.

Following that re-districting, the area chose Brentwood-based state senator Marsha Blackburn. She served from 2003 to 2019.

Redistricting after the 2010 census made the district somewhat more compact, restoring a configuration similar to the 1983-2003 lines. However, it lost its share of the Memphis suburbs to the 8th, a move which made the 8th as heavily Republican as the 7th.

In 2018, Blackburn successfully ran for US Senate, defeating former governor Phil Bredesen. In the concurrent election, the district selected doctor and former state senator Mark E. Green.

List of members representing the district

Name	Party	Years	Cong ress	District Residence	Electoral history
District created March 4, 1823
Sam Houston	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1823 - March 4, 1825	18th 19th	Lebanon	[data unknown/missing]
	Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 - March 4, 1827			Elected Governor of Tennessee.
John Bell	Jacksonian	March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1835	20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th	Nashville	Appointed as U.S. Secretary of War.
	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837
	Whig	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1841
Robert L. Caruthers	Whig	March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843	27th	Lebanon	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
David W. Dickinson	Whig	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845	28th	Murfreesboro	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Meredith P. Gentry	Whig	March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1853	29th 30th 31st 32nd	Franklin	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Robert M. Bugg	Whig	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855	33rd	Giles County	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
John V. Wright	Democratic	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1861	34th 35th 36th	Purdy	Secession of Tennessee
American Civil War
Isaac R. Hawkins	Unionist	July 24, 1866 – March 3, 1867	39th 40th 41st	Huntingdon	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
	Republican	March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1871
Robert P. Caldwell	Democratic	March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873	42nd	Trenton	Defeated for renomination
John Atkins	Democratic	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875	43rd	Paris	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 8th district.
Washington C. Whitthorne	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883	44th 45th 46th 47th	Columbia	Redistricted from the 6th district. Retired.
John G. Ballentine	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887	48th 49th	Pulaski	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Washington C. Whitthorne	Democratic	March 4, 1887– March 4, 1891	50th 51st	Columbia	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Nicholas N. Cox	Democratic	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1901	52nd 53rd 54th 55th 56th	Franklin	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Lemuel P. Padgett	Democratic	March 4, 1901 – August 2, 1922	57th 58th 59th 60th 61st 62nd 63rd 64th 65th 66th 67th	Columbia	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant		August 2, 1922 – November 6, 1922	67th
Clarence W. Turner	Democratic	November 7, 1922 – March 3, 1923		Waverly	Served remainder of term as caretaker
William C. Salmon	Democratic	March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1925	68th	Columbia	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Edward E. Eslick	Democratic	March 4, 1925 – June 14, 1932	69th 70th 71st 72nd	Pulaski	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant		June 14, 1932 – August 12, 1932	72nd
Willa Eslick	Democratic	August 13, 1932 – March 3, 1933		Pulaski	Served remainder of term as caretaker
Gordon Browning	Democratic	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935	73rd	Huntingdon	Redistricted from the 8th district. Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
Herron C. Pearson	Democratic	January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1943	74th 75th 76th 77th	Jackson	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
W. Wirt Courtney	Democratic	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1949	78th 79th 80th	Franklin	Redistricted from the 6th district. Defeated for renomination
James P. Sutton	Democratic	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953	81st 82nd	Wartrace	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 6th district.
Tom J. Murray	Democratic	January 3, 1953 – December 30, 1966	83rd 84th 85th 86th 87th 88th 89th	Jackson	Redistricted from the 8th district. Defeated for renomination and resigned.
Vacant		December 31, 1966 – January 2, 1967	89th
Ray Blanton	Democratic	January 3, 1967– January 3, 1973	90th 91st 92nd	Adamsville	[data unknown/missing] Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
Ed Jones	Democratic	January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1983	93rd 94th 95th 96th 97th	Yorkville	Redistricted from the 8th district. Redistricted to the 8th district.
Don Sundquist	Republican	January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1995	98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd 103rd	Memphis	Redistricted from the 6th District, elected Governor
Ed Bryant	Republican	January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2003	104th 105th 106th 107th	Henderson	[data unknown/missing] Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
Marsha Blackburn	Republican	January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2019	108th 109th 110th 111th 112th 113th 114th 115th	Brentwood	[data unknown/missing] Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
Mark E. Green	Republican	January 3, 2019 – Present	116th 117th	Ashland City	Elected in 2018.

Historical district boundaries

2003 - 2013

See also

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

References

2. Center for New Media & Promotion (CNMP), US Census Bureau. "My Congressional District". www.census.gov. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
3. "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
4. "7. Williamson County, TN (Median household income: $104,367)". Forbes. Retrieved January 28, 2021.

• 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