Ohio's 6th congressional district

Ohio's 6th congressional district
Ohio's 6th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Current Representative	Bill Johnson (R–Marietta)
Distribution	42.68[1]% urban 57.32% rural
Population (2016)	703,190[2]
Median income	$46,839
Ethnicity	95.13% White 2.55% Black 3.73% Asian 1.13% Hispanic 0.4% Native American
Cook PVI	R+16[3]

Ohio's 6th congressional district is represented by Representative Bill Johnson (R-OH). This district runs along the southeast side of the state, bordering Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It stretches from rural Lucasville through Athens and several older Ohio River industrial towns all the way to the Youngstown city limits.^[4]

History

When Robert McEwen was first elected in 1980, the Sixth District of Ohio consisted of Adams, Brown, Clinton, Fayette, Highland, Pickaway, Pike, Scioto, and Ross Counties plus Clermont County outside the city of Loveland, Harrison Township in Vinton County and the Warren County townships of Clearcreek, Deerfield, Hamilton, Harlan, Massie, Salem, and Wayne.^[5] At that time, The Washington Post described the Sixth as "a fail-safe Republican district."^[6]

The Ohio General Assembly redrew the Sixth District following the results of the 1980 Census. The boundaries from 1983 to 1987 included all of Adams, Clinton, Fayette, Highland, Hocking, Jackson, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton and Warren Counties, plus Waterloo and York Townships in Athens County; Wayne Township in Clermont County; Concord, Jasper, Marion, Perry, Union, and Wayne Townships in Fayette County; and Washington Township and the Cities of Miamisburg and West Carrollton in Montgomery County.^[7]

Beginning with the 100th Congress in 1987, adjustments were made by the legislature to the boundaries; reapportionment between censuses is unusual in American politics. A small part of the Montgomery County territory was detached, as were parts of Fayette County in Washington Court House in Union Township and the townships of Jasper and Marion. Part of Brown County was added, Jackson and Eagle Townships. These were the boundaries for the rest of McEwen's service in Congress.^[8]

The district was largely rural and agricultural with no large cities. One of the major industries was the United States Department of Energy's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant at Piketon, which manufactured uranium for nuclear weapons. The district was 97 per cent white with a median household income of $21,761.^[9]

In 1992, the district was altered significantly to accommodate Ohio's loss of two House seats in redistricting. The state legislature anticipated that Clarence Miller of the neighboring Tenth District would retire, and thus combined the southern end of his district (which included Athens, Gallipolis, and Ironton) with most of the area previously represented by McEwen. Although the district did not include Miller's hometown of Lancaster, Miller decided not to retire and instead challenged McEwen in the Sixth District primary in 1992. The campaign was bitter, and McEwen eked out only a narrow victory. In November, McEwen was upset by Democrat Ted Strickland, a prison psychologist. Strickland himself was defeated in 1994 by Republican Frank Cremeans, but won the seat back in 1996.

For 2002 the district was shifted dramatically eastward to make the seat friendlier for Strickland. At the same time, it effectively ended the career of James Traficant in the neighboring 17th District by placing his hometown of Poland into the 6th. Traficant opted to run in his old district and lost. The district currently includes all of Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Gallia, Guernsey, Jackson, Jefferson, Lawrence, Meigs, Monroe, Noble and Washington counties, and portions of Athens, Mahoning, Muskingum, Scioto and Tuscarawas counties.

In 2010, Republican Bill Johnson defeated incumbent Democrat Charles Wilson, returning the seat Republican for the first time since 1997. Following the 2010 United States Census, the bounds of the sixth district were changed again as Ohio lost two seats in Congress.^[10]

In recent years and like much of coal country, the district has swung decidedly toward the Republican Party at local, state and national levels. Going from what was once a dead heat in presidential elections, such as in 2000 or 2004, to a 42-point win for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016.

List of representatives

Representative	Party	Year(s)	Congress(es)	Notes
District created		March 4, 1813
Reasin Beall	Democratic- Republican	April 20, 1813 – June 7, 1814	13th	Elected after Rep-elect John Stark Edwards died before commencement of term, Resigned
David Clendenin		October 11, 1814 – March 3, 1817	13th–14th
Peter Hitchcock		March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1819	15th
John Sloane		March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1823	16th–17th	Redistricted to the 12th district
Duncan McArthur	Adams- Clay DR	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	18th
John Thomson	Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1827	19th
William Creighton, Jr.	Adams	March 4, 1827 – ????, 1828	20th	Resigned after being appointed as judge of United States District Court for the District of Ohio
Francis Swaine Muhlenberg		December 19, 1828 – March 3, 1829	20th
William Creighton, Jr.	Anti- Jacksonian	March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1833	21st–22nd
Samuel Finley Vinton		March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835	23rd	Redistricted from the 7th district
	Whig	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837	24th
Calvary Morris		March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843	25th–27th
Henry St. John	Democratic	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1847	28th–29th
Rodolphus Dickinson		March 4, 1847 – March 20, 1849	30th–31st	Died
Amos E. Wood		December 3, 1849 – November 19, 1850	31st	Died
John Bell	Whig	January 7, 1851 – March 3, 1851	31st
Frederick W. Green	Democratic	March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853	32nd	Redistricted to the 9th district
Andrew Ellison		March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855	33rd
Jonas R. Emrie	Opposition	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857	34th
Joseph R. Cockerill	Democratic	March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1859	35th
William Howard		March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861	36th
Chilton A. White		March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1865	37th–38th
Reader W. Clarke	Republican	March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1869	39th–40th
John Armstrong Smith		March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1873	41st–42nd
Isaac R. Sherwood		March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875	43rd
Frank H. Hurd	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877	44th
Jacob Dolson Cox	Republican	March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1879	45th
William D. Hill	Democratic	March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1881	46th
James M. Ritchie	Republican	March 3, 1881 – March 3, 1883	47th
William D. Hill	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887	48th–49th
Melvin M. Boothman	Republican	March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1891	50th–51st
Dennis D. Donovan	Democratic	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1893	52nd	Redistricted to the 5th district
George W. Hulick	Republican	March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1897	53rd–54th
Seth W. Brown		March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1901	55th–56th
Charles Q. Hildebrant		March 4, 1901 – March 3, 1905	57th–58th
Thomas E. Scroggy		March 4, 1905 – March 3, 1907	59th
Matthew Denver	Democratic	March 4, 1907 – March 3, 1913	60th–62nd
Simeon D. Fess	Republican	March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1915	63rd	Redistricted to the 7th district
Charles Cyrus Kearns		March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1931	64th–71st
James G. Polk	Democratic	March 3, 1931 – January 3, 1941	72nd–76th
Jacob E. Davis		January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943	77th
Edward Oscar McCowen	Republican	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1949	78th–80th
James G. Polk	Democratic	January 3, 1949 – April 28, 1959	81st–86th	Died
Ward Miller	Republican	November 8, 1960 – January 3, 1961	86th	[11]
Bill Harsha		January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1981	87th–96th
Bob McEwen		January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1993	97th–102nd	[12]
Ted Strickland	Democratic	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995	103rd
Frank Cremeans	Republican	January 3, 1995 – January 3, 1997	104th
Ted Strickland	Democratic	January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2007	105th–109th	Retired to become Governor of Ohio
Charlie Wilson		January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011	110th–111th
Bill Johnson	Republican	January 3, 2011 – Present	112th–

Recent election results

The following chart shows historic election results. Bold type indicates victor. Italic type indicates incumbent.

Competitiveness

Election results from presidential races:

Historical district boundaries

2003 - 2013

See also

• Ohio's congressional districts
• List of United States congressional districts

Notes and references

• 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°45′N 83°0′W / 38.750°N 83.000°W / 38.750; -83.000