North Carolina's 12th congressional district

North Carolina's 12th congressional district
Map of North Carolina's 12th congressional district as of January 2013
Current Representative	Alma Adams (D)
Area	827 sq mi (2,140 km^2)
Distribution	88.5% urban 11.5% rural
Population (2000)	619,178
Median income	35,775
Ethnicity	47.2% White 44.6% Black 2.1% Asian 7.1% Hispanic 0.4% Native American 0.1% other
Occupation	32.1% Blue-collar 51.9% White-collar 16.0% Gray-collar
Cook PVI	D+23[1]

North Carolina's 12th congressional district is located in central North Carolina and comprises portions of Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Lexington, Salisbury, Concord, and High Point.

It was one of two minority-majority Congressional districts created in the state in the 1990s. As of the 2000 United States Census, there is a small plurality of White Americans in the district, though African Americans make up a majority of its voting population.

North Carolina had a twelfth seat in the House in the nineteenth century and in the mid-twentieth century (1943–1963).

Re-establishment from 1990

The district was re-established after the 1990 United States Census, when North Carolina gained a House seat due to an increase in population. It was drawn in 1992 as one of two minority-majority districts, designed to give African-American voters (who comprised 22% of the state's population at the time) the chance to elect a representative of their choice; Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibited the dilution of voting power of minorities by distributing them among districts so that they could never elect candidates of their choice.^[2]

In its original configuration, the district had a 64 percent African-American majority in population. The district boundaries, stretching from Gastonia to Durham, were so narrow at some points that it was no wider than a highway lane. It followed Interstate 85 almost exactly.^[3][4] One state legislator famously remarked, after seeing the district map, "if you drove down the interstate with both car doors open, you’d kill most of the people in the district."^[5][6]

The United States Supreme Court ruled in Shaw v. Reno (1993) that a racial gerrymander may, in some circumstances, violate the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.

The state legislature defended the two minority-majority districts as based on demographics, with the 12th representing people of the interior Piedmont area and the 1st the Coastal Plain.^[2] Subsequently, the 12th district was redrawn several times and was adjudicated in the Supreme Court on two additional occasions.^[2] The version created after the 2000 census was approved by the US Supreme Court in Hunt v. Cromartie. The district's configuration dating from the 2000 census has a small plurality of whites, and it was changed only slightly after the 2010 census. African Americans make up a large majority of registered voters and Hispanics constitute 7.1% of residents. In all of its configurations, it has been a Democratic stronghold; its current incarnation is dominated by black voters in Charlotte, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem.

On February 5, 2016, U.S. Circuit Judge Roger L. Gregory ruled that the district, along with North Carolina's 1st congressional district,^[7] must be redrawn,^[8] and that race could not be a mitigating factor in drawing the district.^[9]

List of representatives

Representative	Party	Years	Electoral history
District created March 4, 1803
Joseph Winston	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1807
Meshack Franklin	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1807 – March 3, 1813	Redistricted to the 13th district
Israel Pickens	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1817	Redistricted from the 11th district
Felix Walker	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1823
Robert B. Vance	Jacksonian D-R	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825
Samuel P. Carson	Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1833
James Graham	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1837	Seat declared vacant March 29, 1836 - December 5, 1836
	Whig	March 4, 1837 – March 4, 1843
District inactive March 3, 1843
District re-established January 3, 1943
Zebulon Weaver	Democratic	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1947	Redistricted from the 11th district
Monroe M. Redden	Democratic	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1953
George A. Shuford	Democratic	January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1959
David M. Hall	Democratic	January 3, 1959 – January 29, 1960	Died
Vacant	January 29, 1960 – June 25, 1960
Roy A. Taylor	Democratic	June 25, 1960 – January 3, 1963	Redistricted to the 11th district
District inactive January 3, 1963
District re-established January 3, 1993
Mel Watt	Democratic	January 3, 1993 – January 6, 2014	Resigned to become head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency
Vacant		January 6, 2014 – November 4, 2014	North Carolina's 12th congressional district special election, 2014
Alma Adams	Democratic	November 4, 2014 – Present

Election results

Year	Democratic	Republican	Libertarian
2002	Melvin L. Watt: 98,821	Jeff Kish: 49,588	Carey Head: 2,830
2004	Melvin L. Watt: 154,908	Ada M. Fisher: 76,898
2006	Melvin L. Watt: 71,345	Ada M. Fisher: 35,127
2008	Melvin L. Watt: 215,908	Ty Cobb, Jr.: 85,814
2010	Melvin L. Watt: 103,495	Greg Dority: 55,315	Lon Cecil: 3,197
2012	Melvin L. Watt: 247,591	Jack Brosch: 63,317
2014	Alma Adams: 128,081	Vince Coakley: 41,737

Historical district boundaries

2003–2013

See also

• North Carolina's congressional districts
• List of United States congressional districts

References

1. "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
2. senate.leg.state.mn.us "North Carolina Redistricting Cases: the 1990s", National Conference of State Legislatures
3. "Electoral Vote Reforms". politicsnj.com. Archived from the original on 2007-08-04.
4. "State Profile -- North Carolina". CNN. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
5. "Thomas right to oppose racial 'homelands'". The Item. August 17, 1994.
6. "12th District's History, Future Will Be Getting More Attention". WFAE. May 15, 2013.
7. Simpson, Ian (February 8, 2016). "Judges find two N. Carolina congressional districts racially gerrymandered". Reuters. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
8. Choate, Paul (5 February 2016). "Federal court invalidates maps of North Carolina's 1st, 12th congressional districts". High Point, NC: WGHP FOX8. Retrieved February 2016. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
9. "Judges strike down 1st, 12th Districts". The Times-News. Burlington, NC. The Associated Press. 6 February 2016.

• 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

External links

• Mel Watt's official website

Coordinates: 35°38′47″N 80°26′33″W / 35.64639°N 80.44250°W