Tennessee's 8th congressional district

Tennessee's 8th congressional district
	Tennessee's 8th congressional district – since January 3, 2013.
	David Kustoff; R–Germantown
Distribution	60.83% urban[1]; 39.17% rural;
Population (2019)	711,068[2]
Median household; income	$60,152[3]
Ethnicity	75.21% White; 19.48% Black; 2.85% Hispanic; 2.06% Asian; 0.35% Native American;
Cook PVI	R+19[4]

The 8th congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district in West Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican David Kustoff since January 2017.

Current Boundaries

The district is located in West Tennessee. It borders Kentucky to the north, Arkansas and Missouri to the west, and Mississippi to the south.

It is currently composed of the following counties: Carroll, Crockett, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Haywood, Henry, Lake, Lauderdale, Madison, Obion, Tipton, and Weakley. It also contains a large piece of Shelby County and a small piece of Benton.

Characteristics

The district appears rural on a map, but the bulk of its vote is cast in the suburban areas around Memphis, such as Germantown, Bartlett, and Collierville, as well as Fayette and Tipton counties. This area boasts some of the highest median incomes in the state.

The rest of the district is composed mostly of small towns and farming communities. The district already had a strong social conservative tint which grew even more pronounced when eastern Memphis was added to the district; many of the state's most politically active churches are located here.

According to the 2010 census, the five largest cities located mostly with the district are: Jackson (65,211), Bartlett (54,613), Collierville (43,965), Germantown (38,844), and Dyersburg (17,145).

Election results from presidential races

Year	Office	Result
2000	President	Al Gore 51% - George W. Bush 48%
2004	President	George W. Bush 53% - John Kerry 47%
2008	President	John McCain 64% - Barack Obama 35%
2012	President	Mitt Romney 66% - Barack Obama 33%
2016	President	Donald Trump 66% - Hillary Clinton 30%
2020	President	Donald Trump 65% - Joe Biden 33%

History

Districts similar to today's 8th (composing of rural areas in northwest Tennessee) have been in place since Reconstruction.

During the early 20th century, most of northwest Tennessee was represented by Democrats Finis J. Garrett (1905 to 1929) and Jere Cooper (1929 to 1957). Before 1933, the district was numbered as the 9th; it was numbered as the 9th again from 1943 to 1953. Cooper was succeeded by Fats Everett, who served until his death in early 1969.

The district was pushed into Memphis' northern suburbs in 1967 due to a re-districting caused by the Baker v. Carr ruling.

Following Everett's death in 1969, former Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture Ed Jones won a special election for the balance of his term. Jones served the area in Congress for just under twenty years until his retirement in 1989. Upon Jones' retirement, State Senator John S. Tanner succeeded him. Following eleven terms (22 years) in Congress, Tanner retired.

For most of the 20th century, the 8th was a classic Yellow Dog Democrat district. The area's Democrats were nowhere near as liberal as their counterparts in Nashville and Memphis, and the area's voters were willing to split their tickets in national elections from the 1960s onward. However, the GOP was almost nonexistent at the state and local level, with Republicans only fielding "sacrificial lamb" candidates on the few times they fielded candidates at all.

However, Republicans gradually began eroding the Democratic advantage at the turn of the century. It was swept up in the statewide Republican wave of 2008, with Republicans capturing most of the district's seats in the Tennessee General Assembly. This culminated in 2011, when Republican businessman Stephen Fincher defeated Democratic state senator Roy Herron in a landslide, taking 58 percent of the vote to Herron's 39 percent. It marked the first time since Reconstruction that a Republican had represented northwest Tennessee. Since then, no Democrat has managed even 40 percent of the vote.

Following the 2010 census, the district lost its remaining territory in Middle Tennessee, meaning it was entirely within West Tennessee for the first time since 1968. In the same census, it picked up the 7th's share of Shelby County, meaning that since 2012, any area of Shelby County that is not in the 9th is in the 8th. The 8th also absorbed all of Fayette County. The eastern Memphis suburbs, particularly eastern Shelby County, are the most Republican areas of the state outside of East Tennessee. Their addition gave the 8th a character similar to the 7th; it is now the most Republican district in the state outside East Tennessee and one of the most Republican districts in the South.

In 2016, Fincher retired and was succeeded by Republican David Kustoff, a Memphis resident and former United States Attorney.

List of members representing the district

Name	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
District created March 4, 1823
James B. Reynolds	Democratic-Republican (Jackson)	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	18th	[data unknown/missing]
John H. Marable	Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1829	19th 20th	[data unknown/missing]
Cave Johnson	Jacksonian	March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1833	21st 22nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 11th district.
David W. Dickinson	Jacksonian	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835	23rd	[data unknown/missing]
Abram P. Maury	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837	24th 25th	[data unknown/missing]
Abram P. Maury	Whig	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1839	24th 25th	[data unknown/missing]
Meredith P. Gentry	Whig	March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1843	26th 27th	[data unknown/missing]
Joseph H. Peyton	Whig	March 4, 1843 – November 11, 1845	28th 29th	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant		November 11, 1845 – January 2, 1846	29th
Edwin H. Ewing	Whig	January 2, 1846 – March 3, 1847	29th	Elected December 12, 1845 to finish Peyton's term and seated January 2, 1846. [data unknown/missing]
Washington Barrow	Whig	March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849	30th	[data unknown/missing]
Andrew Ewing	Democratic	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851	31st	[data unknown/missing]
William Cullom	Whig	March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853	32nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 4th district.
Felix Zollicoffer	Whig	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855	33rd 34th 35th	[data unknown/missing]
Felix Zollicoffer	Know Nothing	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1859	33rd 34th 35th	[data unknown/missing]
James M. Quarles	Opposition	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861	36th	[data unknown/missing]
Vacant		March 4, 1861 – July 24, 1866	36th 37th 38th 39th	American Civil War
John W. Leftwich	Unconditional Unionist	July 24, 1866 – March 3, 1867	39th	[data unknown/missing]
David A. Nunn	Republican	March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1869	40th	[data unknown/missing]
William J. Smith	Republican	March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871	41st	[data unknown/missing]
William W. Vaughan	Democratic	March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873	42nd	[data unknown/missing]
David A. Nunn	Republican	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875	43rd	[data unknown/missing]
John D. C. Atkins	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883	44th 45th 46th 47th	Redistricted from the 7th district. [data unknown/missing]
John M. Taylor	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887	48th 49th	[data unknown/missing]
Benjamin A. Enloe	Democratic	March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1895	50th 51st 52nd 53rd	[data unknown/missing]
John E. McCall	Republican	March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897	54th	[data unknown/missing]
Thetus W. Sims	Democratic	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1921	55th 56th 57th 58th 59th 60th 61st 62nd 63rd 64th 65th 66th	[data unknown/missing]
Lon A. Scott	Republican	March 4, 1921 – March 3, 1923	67th	[data unknown/missing]
Gordon Browning	Democratic	March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1933	68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 7th district.
Jere Cooper	Democratic	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1943	73rd 74th 75th 76th 77th	Redistricted from the 9th district. Redistricted to the 9th district.
Tom J. Murray	Democratic	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1953	78th 79th 80th 81st 82nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 7th district.
Jere Cooper	Democratic	January 3, 1953 – December 18, 1957	83rd 84th 85th	Redistricted from the 9th district. Died.
Vacant		December 18, 1957 – February 1, 1958	85th
Fats Everett	Democratic	February 1, 1958 – January 26, 1969	85th 86th 87th 88th 89th 90th 91st	Elected to finish Cooper's term. Died.
Vacant		January 26, 1969 – March 25, 1969	91st
Ed Jones	Democratic	March 25, 1969 – January 3, 1973	91st 92nd	Elected to finish Everett's term. Redistricted to the 7th district.
Dan Kuykendall	Republican	January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1975	93rd	Redistricted from the 9th district. [data unknown/missing]
Harold Ford Sr.	Democratic	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1983	94th 95th 96th 97th	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 9th district.
Ed Jones	Democratic	January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1989	98th 99th 100th	Redistricted from the 7th district. [data unknown/missing]
John S. Tanner	Democratic	January 3, 1989 – January 3, 2011	101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th	[data unknown/missing]
Stephen Fincher	Republican	January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2017	112th 113th 114th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
David Kustoff	Republican	January 3, 2017 – present	115th 116th 117th	Elected in 2016.

Historical district boundaries

2003 – 2013

References

https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/cd_state.html
https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=47&cd=08
https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=47&cd=08
"Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.

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

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[1] ttps://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/cd_state.html

[2] ttps://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=47&cd=08

[3] ttps://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=47&cd=08

[Cook-4] "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.