Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Kentucky's 5th congressional district

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Population (2000)
  
673,670

Cook PVI
  
R+25

Median income
  
21,915

Kentucky's 5th congressional district

Current Representative
  
Hal Rogers (R–Somerset)

Distribution
  
21.33% urban 78.67% rural

Ethnicity
  
95.8% White 1.1% Black 0.3% Asian 0.7% Hispanic 0.2% Native American 0.0% other

Kentucky's 5th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Located in the heart of Appalachia in Southeastern Kentucky, the rural district is one of the most impoverished districts in the nation and, as of the 2010 U.S. Census, it has the largest percentage of Whites/Caucasians in the nation. Located within the district are the economic leading cities of Pikeville, Prestonsburg, Middlesborough, Hazard, Jackson, Morehead, Ashland, London, Somerset.

Contents

The current 5th congressional district is one of the few ancestrally Republican regions south of the Ohio River. Much of the region now in the district strongly supported the Union in the Civil War, and identified with the Republicans after hostilities ceased. Much of the eastern portion of the district was once part of the disbanded 7th congressional district, long a Democratic stronghold. The 7th district was disbanded in 1992 after the 1990 census showed that the state's population could no longer support seven districts. Geographically, the district consists of flat land areas to the west, to Appalachia highland mountains to the east and southeast. To the north to northeast of the district are rolling hills that end at the Ohio River.

The district is currently represented by Republican Harold D. "Hal" Rogers, the dean of the Kentucky delegation. Congressman Rogers currently serves in various top leadership positions in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The 5th Kentucky congressional district has various state park systems and the Daniel Boone national forest area. Regional tourism is bountiful with Lakes for fishing and/or swimming, mountains for horse trail ridding, hiking, or four wheel riding. And cultural tourism is colorful with its cultural music of bluegrass and various instruments that are made to play the music. Natural resources are timber and coal. The coal mining industry has been a prized industry for the district. The district has private and public colleges and universities. The district is home to a national weather service "NWS" center located in Jackson, Kentucky. The district also has one public television station in Hazard, Kentucky of call letters WYMT, a CBS affiliate station. With various radio stations throughout the district. There are regional hospitals in the region. Major highways in the 5th congressional district are interstate 75, The Hal Rogers Parkway, The Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway, state highway 80, state highway 15, U.S. highway 23, U.S. highway 421.

Characteristics

As of September 2013, there were 510,329 registered voters: 253,798 (49.73%) Democrats, 235,470 (46.14%) Republicans, and 21,061 (4.13%) "Others". All of the "Others" included 15,344 (3.01%) unclassified Others, 5,385 (1.06%) Independents, 241 (0.05%) Libertarians, 43 (0.0084%) Greens, 21 (0.0041%) Constitutionalists, 20 (0.0039%) Reforms, and 7 (0.0014%) Socialist Workers.

Until January 1, 2006, Kentucky did not track party affiliation for registered voters who were neither Democratic nor Republican. The Kentucky voter registration card does not explicitly list anything other than Democratic Party, Republican Party, or Other, with the "Other" option having a blank line and no instructions on how to register as something else.

Voting

Election results from presidential races:

References

Kentucky's 5th congressional district Wikipedia