Missouri's 4th congressional district
Missouri's 4th congressional district | |
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Missouri's 4th congressional district - since January 3, 2013. | |
Current Representative | Vicky Hartzler (R) |
Distribution |
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Ethnicity |
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Occupation |
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Cook PVI | R+11[1] |
Missouri's 4th Congressional District consists of west central Missouri. The district is predominantly rural and relatively conservative; George W. Bush defeated John Kerry 64% to 35% in Election 2004 and John McCain defeated Barack Obama 61% to 38% in Election 2008. The district is currently represented by Vicky Hartzler, a Republican.
This district had historically been a Democratic Party stronghold, made up of white conservatives, among whom were slaveholders. Antipathy to the Republican Party had its origins in the American Civil War and the infamous General Order 11. The Union Army ordered evacuation of the county in an attempt to reduce support for and the power of Confederate guerrilla insurgents.
After the Civil War, there was disfranchisement of white males (mostly Democrats) who had been active for the Confederacy until they took loyalty oaths, or until 1870. The area was filled with conflict between Missouri's Radicals, who joined the Republicans, and Conservatives, who were Democrats. By 1880 former secessionists dominated Missouri's congressional delegation and state legislature, establishing racial segregation in schools.
Gradually this area gradually developed a character similar to Yellow Dog Democrat districts in the South. Until 2010, only one Republican had been elected here since the Great Depression, and only for one term. Bill Clinton, former governor of Arkansas, carried this district by a lopsided margin in 1992 and carried it again by a smaller margin in 1996.
However, several demographic trends have converged to erode the Democratic base in this district. First, as the New York Times election maps show, the predominantly rural counties lining the Missouri River have sharply trended Republican between the 2000 Senate election and the 2006 election, following trends across the South.[2] Secondly, population losses in the Kansas City-based 5th district resulted in the 4th losing most of its share of heavily Democratic Jackson County. Until the 1970s, the district stretched as far as Independence. To compensate for this, large portions of heavily Republican Southwest Missouri were reassigned from the neighboring 7th district.[3] The result of these trends resulted in a dramatic collapse of Democratic support in the district. Al Gore, John Kerry, and Barack Obama won less than 40% of the vote here. In the 2010 general election, Hartzler defeated 34-year Democratic incumbent Ike Skelton.
List of representatives
Representative | Party | Years | District home | Notes |
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District created March 4, 1847 | ||||
Willard P. Hall | Democratic | March 4, 1847 – March 4, 1853 | ||
Mordecai Oliver | Whig | March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1855 | ||
Opposition | March 4, 1855 – March 4, 1857 | |||
James Craig | Democratic | March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861 | ||
Elijah H. Norton | Democratic | March 4, 1861 – March 4, 1863 | ||
Sempronius H. Boyd | Unconditional Unionist | March 4, 1863 – March 4, 1865 | ||
John R. Kelso | Independent Republican | March 4, 1865 – March 4, 1867 | ||
Joseph J. Gravely | Republican | March 4, 1867 – March 4, 1869 | ||
Sempronius H. Boyd | Republican | March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1871 | ||
Harrison E. Havens | Republican | March 4, 1871 – March 4, 1873 | Redistricted to the 6th district | |
Robert A. Hatcher | Democratic | March 4, 1873 – March 4, 1879 | ||
Lowndes H. Davis | Democratic | March 4, 1879 – March 4, 1883 | Redistricted to the 14th district | |
James N. Burnes | Democratic | March 4, 1883 – January 23, 1889 | Died | |
Vacant | January 23, 1889 – February 19, 1889 | |||
Charles F. Booher | Democratic | February 19, 1889 – March 4, 1889 | ||
Vacant | March 4, 1889 – December 2, 1889 | |||
Robert P. C. Wilson | Democratic | December 2, 1889 – March 4, 1893 | elected in special election after Rep-elect James N. Burnes died before commencement of congress | |
Daniel D. Burnes | Democratic | March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1895 | ||
George C. Crowther | Republican | March 4, 1895 – March 4, 1897 | ||
Charles F. Cochran | Democratic | March 4, 1897 – March 4, 1905 | ||
Frank B. Fulkerson | Republican | March 4, 1905 – March 4, 1907 | ||
Charles F. Booher | Democratic | March 4, 1907 – January 21, 1921 | Died | |
Vacant | January 21, 1921 – March 4, 1921 | |||
Charles L. Faust | Republican | March 4, 1921 – December 17, 1928 | Died | |
Vacant | December 17, 1928 – February 5, 1929 | |||
David W. Hopkins | Republican | February 5, 1929 – March 4, 1933 | ||
March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935 | District inactive, all representatives elected At-large on a general ticket | |||
C. Jasper Bell | Democratic | January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1949 | ||
Leonard Irving | Democratic | January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953 | ||
Jeffrey P. Hillelson | Republican | January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955 | ||
George H. Christopher | Democratic | January 3, 1955 – January 23, 1959 | Died | |
Vacant | January 23, 1959 – March 3, 1959 | |||
William J. Randall | Democratic | March 3, 1959 – January 3, 1977 | ||
Ike Skelton | Democratic | January 3, 1977 – January 3, 2011 | defeated for re-election to 18th term in 2010 | |
Vicky Hartzler | Republican | January 3, 2011 – present | Harrisonville | Incumbent |
Counties
There is a total of 26 counties included in MO-04.
2008 Presidential Election Results by County
The table below shows how individual counties in MO-04 voted in the 2008 presidential election. U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) won every single county in MO-04 and swept the district with 60.58 percent of the vote while U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) received 37.87 percent, a 22.71-percent margin of victory for the GOP.
County | John McCain | Barack Obama | Difference |
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Barton | 74.21 | 24.46 | R + 49.75 |
Dade | 69.65 | 28.79 | R + 40.86 |
Moniteau | 67.02 | 31.27 | R + 35.75 |
Laclede | 66.62 | 31.97 | R + 34.65 |
Cedar | 66.01 | 32.42 | R + 33.59 |
Polk | 65.39 | 33.24 | R + 32.15 |
Dallas | 63.71 | 34.57 | R + 29.14 |
Webster | 63.77 | 34.76 | R + 29.01 |
Pulaski | 63.68 | 34.99 | R + 28.69 |
Camden | 63.59 | 35.12 | R + 28.47 |
Cole | 62.94 | 36.03 | R + 26.91 |
Pettis | 60.51 | 38.07 | R + 22.44 |
Benton | 60.20 | 37.93 | R + 22.27 |
Vernon | 60.08 | 38.08 | R + 22.00 |
St. Clair | 59.76 | 37.81 | R + 21.95 |
Morgan | 59.58 | 38.97 | R + 20.61 |
Cass | 59.18 | 39.55 | R + 19.63 |
Bates | 58.35 | 39.49 | R + 18.86 |
Lafayette | 56.88 | 41.58 | R + 15.30 |
Hickory | 55.72 | 42.44 | R + 13.28 |
Johnson | 55.18 | 42.93 | R + 12.25 |
Henry | 54.62 | 43.63 | R + 10.99 |
Ray | 50.60 | 47.42 | R + 3.18 |
Saline | 50.39 | 47.85 | R + 2.54 |
2008 Missouri Democratic Presidential Primary Election Results by County
The table below shows how individual counties in MO-04 voted in the 2008 Missouri Democratic Presidential Primary. Former U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York) swept the district by a convincing margin over U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois). Clinton won every county in the district with the exception of Cole County, home of the State Capitol.
County | Hillary Clinton | Barack Obama | Difference |
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Benton | 68.77 | 26.95 | C + 41.82 |
St. Clair | 67.52 | 26.12 | C + 41.40 |
Hickory | 67.95 | 27.86 | C + 40.09 |
Ray | 65.29 | 30.31 | C + 34.98 |
Bates | 63.51 | 30.08 | C + 33.43 |
Dallas | 63.75 | 32.01 | C + 31.74 |
Henry | 63.18 | 32.10 | C + 31.08 |
Barton | 63.43 | 32.85 | C + 30.58 |
Polk | 63.81 | 33.28 | C + 30.53 |
Vernon | 61.55 | 31.42 | C + 30.13 |
Dade | 62.22 | 33.12 | C + 29.10 |
Laclede | 62.48 | 33.77 | C + 28.71 |
Morgan | 62.05 | 33.58 | C + 28.47 |
Cedar | 60.30 | 33.00 | C + 27.30 |
Webster | 61.20 | 34.46 | C + 26.74 |
Lafayette | 60.75 | 35.40 | C + 25.35 |
Moniteau | 60.38 | 36.38 | C + 24.00 |
Cass | 59.76 | 36.73 | C + 23.03 |
Saline | 57.46 | 37.85 | C + 19.61 |
Camden | 57.99 | 38.75 | C + 19.24 |
Pulaski | 56.07 | 39.35 | C + 16.72 |
Pettis | 54.76 | 41.38 | C + 13.38 |
Johnson | 53.22 | 43.07 | C + 10.15 |
Cole | 45.07 | 51.16 | O + 6.09 |
Historical district boundaries
See also
References
- ↑ "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
- ↑ "Senate Races". The New York Times.
- ↑
- 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
Coordinates: 38°16′57″N 93°19′08″W / 38.28250°N 93.31889°W