Population (2000) 675,564 | Median income 36,732 | |
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Area 7,041.64 sq mi (18,237.8 km) Distribution 58.10% urban41.90% rural Ethnicity 94.2% White3.7% Black0.6% Asian0.9% Hispanic0.2% Native American0.3% other | ||
Indiana s 8th congressional district forum part one
Indiana's 8th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Indiana. Based in Southwest and west central Indiana, the district is anchored in Evansville and also includes Jasper, Princeton, Terre Haute, Vincennes and Washington.
Contents
- Indiana s 8th congressional district forum part one
- Indiana s 8th congressional district forum part two
- Counties located in Indianas 8th Congressional District
- Cities of 10000 or more people
- 2500 10000 people
- History
- Living former Members
- References
Commonly referred to as "The Bloody Eighth" at the local (and sometimes national) levels (See below for explanation), it was formerly a notorious swing district. However, due to rampant gerrymandering by Republicans, a Democratic victory in the district is nearly impossible.
Indiana s 8th congressional district forum part two
Counties located in Indiana's 8th Congressional District
As of 2013.
Cities of 10,000 or more people
(2010 Census)
2,500 - 10,000 people
(2010 Census)
History
Based in Evansville, the 8th Congressional District was widened when Indiana lost a seat after the 2000 U.S. Census to include much of the former 5th and 7th Congressional Districts. At that time, Bloomington (the home of former U.S. Representative Frank McCloskey) was moved into the 9th Congressional District, while the 8th Congressional District was extended northward to include much of the former 7th Congressional District in west-central Indiana, including Terre Haute. As a result of this expansion, the district is the largest in area in Indiana with all or part of 18 counties.
The district has been nicknamed "The Bloody Eighth" because of a series of hard-fought campaigns and political reversals. Unlike most other districts in the state, which frequently give their representatives long tenures in Washington, the 8th Congressional District has a reputation for frequently ousting its incumbents. Voters in the district ousted six incumbents from 1966 to 1982. The election in 1984 was so close that it was decided in the House of Representatives. Although Southern Indiana is ancestrally Democratic, the Democrats in this area are nowhere near as liberal as their counterparts in the rest of the state; most of them are Blue Dogs. The district also has a strong tint of social conservatism.
In 2000, a New York Times reporter said of the district: "With a populist streak and a conservative bent, this district does not cotton to country club Republicans or to social-engineering liberals," and also said, "More than 95 percent white and about 41 percent rural, the region shares much of the flavor of the Bible Belt."
The district was previously represented by Brad Ellsworth, a moderate Democrat. As a result of Ellsworth's landslide defeat of 12-year incumbent John Hostettler, it was the first district picked up by the Democrats on Election Night 2006. Ellsworth ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2010 and was succeeded by Republican Larry Bucshon in the same election cycle.
In 2013, the district shifted away from Northern Indiana and more towards Evansville, losing Fountain and Warren Counties, and gaining Dubois, Perry, and Spencer Counties, and a portion of Crawford County, uniting southwestern Indiana under one district.
Living former Members
As of May 2015, four former members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 8th congressional district are alive. The most recent representative to die was H. Joel Deckard (1979-1983) on September 6, 2016. The most recently serving representative to die was Frank McCloskey (1983-1995) on November 2, 2003.