California's 8th congressional district | |
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California's 8th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
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Current Representative | Paul Cook (R–Yucca Valley) |
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Cook PVI | R+10 |
California's 8th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California.
Paul Cook, a Republican from Yucca Valley, has represented the district since January 2013.
Currently, the 8th district encompasses most of the eastern desert regions of the state. It stretches from Mono Lake to Twentynine Palms. It consists of Inyo and Mono counties plus most of San Bernardino County. It is one of the largest and most sparsely populated congressional districts in California. The largest city in the district is Victorville.
Prior to redistricting by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission of 2011, the 8th district was in San Francisco. The new district lines went into effect for the June 2012 elections.
The district is 50.2% white, 8.1% black, 3.9% Asian, 35.3% Hispanic, and 2.5% other. Among registered voters, 41.9% are registered with the Republican Party and 32.6% are registered with the Democratic Party. Voters affiliated with other or no parties make up 25.6% of the electorate.
Before the 2011 redistricting, the 8th district was a Democratic stronghold. It gave John Kerry his best performance in California in 2004, backing the Democrat with 84.2% of the vote. Barack Obama continued on this trend in 2008 when he received 85.22% of the vote in the district while John McCain received 12.38%.