Alabama's 5th congressional district
| Alabama's 5th congressional district | |
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Alabama's 5th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
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| Current Representative | Mo Brooks (R–Huntsville) |
| Area | 4,689 sq mi (12,140 km2) |
| Distribution |
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| Population (2015) | 708,972 |
| Median income | 38,054 |
| Ethnicity |
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| Occupation |
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| Cook PVI | R+17 |
Coordinates: 34°46′39.78″N 86°46′51.62″W / 34.7777167°N 86.7810056°W
Alabama's 5th congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in Alabama, which elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It encompasses the counties of Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison, Morgan and most of Jackson.
It is currently represented by Republican Mo Brooks, a former Madison County Commissioner. Brooks was elected in 2010 after defeating Democrat-turned-Republican incumbent Parker Griffith in the 2010 Republican primary. Brooks later went on to defeat Democrat Steve Raby in the November general election.
Two major economic projects have lastingly impacted the 5th District and have indelibly dictated the politics of North Alabama for most of the 20th Century. Before 1933, the Northern Alabama counties were characteristically poor, white and rural. The Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) arrival changed much of that, slowly transforming the demographic towards technical and engineering employees. The second major project was the space and rocketry programs including Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville where the first large U.S. Ballistic missiles were developed. Additionally, NASA built the Marshall Space Flight Center in the Huntsville-Decatur area during the 1960s. In the late 1950s Northern Alabama came to be dominated by the high-tech and engineering industries, a trend which has continued up to the present. In recent years, the United Launch Alliance has located its research center in Decatur. As a result, Huntsville has become the second largest and fastest growing metropolitan area in Alabama.
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