Tennessee's 9th congressional district
| Tennessee's 9th congressional district | |
|---|---|
Tennessee's 9th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
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| Current Representative | Steve Cohen (D–Memphis) |
| Population (2000) | 632,143 |
| Median income | 33,806 |
| Ethnicity |
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| Cook PVI | D+22 |
The 9th Congressional District of Tennessee is a Congressional district in southwestern Tennessee. The district is located entirely within Shelby County, and includes most of the city of Memphis. It is the state's only district located entirely in one county, as well as the state's only African-American-majority district.
Tennessee had at least nine congressional districts from 1825 to 1973, but was cut down to eight districts as a result of the 1970 United States Census, due to population growth below the national average. However, Tennessee rebounded to nine districts after the 1980 Census. At this time, most of the old 8th District was redrawn as a black-majority district, and combined with small portions of the former 6th and 7th districts to form the new 9th District. The district's configuration has remained more or less the same ever since. Most of the district's current territory had previously been numbered as the 9th from 1953 to 1973.
It is one of the safest seats in the nation for the Democratic Party, and has not been seriously contested by a Republican in its current configuration. Generally, the 9th is one of two seats in Tennessee that are not seriously contested by Republicans (the other being the 5th district).
This was not always so, however, particularly in the 1960s and early 1970s, when Memphis experienced the most intense period of the Civil Rights movement. Before then, traditional Southern conservative Democrats, in later generations associated with mayor E. H. Crump, held the seat. However, the Democrats' increasing support for civil rights resulted in a massive crossover of conservative white Democrats to the Republicans. In 1962, for instance, the district's longtime incumbent, Clifford Davis, nearly lost his seat only two years after being unopposed for reelection. In 1964, Davis was defeated by George W. Grider in the Democratic primary, but he himself won by only five points in November. Finally, in 1966, strongly conservative Republican Dan Kuykendall defeated Grider and became the first Republican to represent a West Tennessee district since 1883.
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