Florida's 13th congressional district

Florida's 13th congressional district
Florida's 13th congressional district - since January 3, 2017
Current Representative Charlie Crist (D–St. Petersburg)
Area 429[1] sq mi (1,110 km2)
Distribution
  • 99.99[2]% urban
  • 0.01% rural
Population (2016) 728,996[3]
Ethnicity
Cook PVI D+2[4]

Florida's 13th congressional district is an electoral district for the U.S. Congress and was reassigned in 2012, effective January 2013, to Pinellas County.[5][6] The 13th district includes an area from Clearwater down to St. Petersburg.

During 2003–2012, it encompassed all of Sarasota, DeSoto, and Hardee counties and most of Manatee County except for a small northern coastal portion that was then located in the neighboring 11th Congressional District. It also included a small section of Charlotte County.

The district is currently represented by Democrat Charlie Crist.

2015 Court ordered redistricting

In July 2015 the Florida Supreme Court overturned the boundaries of the state's congressional districts, ruling that "the maps were the product of an unconstitutional political gerrymandering." It expressed its distrust of lawmakers and "provided detailed instructions on how to repair the flawed map in time for the 2016 election."[7]

"In 2012, the Legislature drew these districts so that District 14 crossed Tampa Bay from Hillsborough County, splitting Pinellas County and the City of St. Petersburg to include a portion of the black population in southern Pinellas County in District 14. The Challengers contended that the Legislature’s configuration of these districts—which "added more Democratic voters to an already safely Democratic District 14, while ensuring that District 13 was more favorable to the Republican Party"—was "directly connected to the trial court’s finding that the enacted map was unconstitutionally drawn to favor the Republican Party. " [8]

With the future of the boundaries of the district undetermined, the Republican Party may abandon it. This was where (under slightly different boundaries) William C. Cramer was elected to Congress, and he helped build the Republican Party in Florida and the South. He held office from 1954 to 1970. Republican C.W. Bill Young essentially represented the district from 1971 to his death in 2013. But demographics have continued to change, and more recently it has been a swing district. Several Democrats may be interested in running for the seat.

There is speculation that the state legislature may try to define the district as either "decidedly Democratic-leaning or overwhelmingly Democratic" if it takes in southern Pinellas County neighborhoods now represented by Tampa Democrat Kathy Castor in Florida's 14th congressional district.[9]

List of representatives

Representative Party Years Electoral history Congressional map
District created January 3, 1973
William Lehman Democratic January 3, 1973 –
January 3, 1983		 Redistricted to the 17th district. [Data unknown/missing.]
Connie Mack III Republican January 3, 1983 –
January 3, 1989		 Retired to run for U.S. Senate. [Data unknown/missing.]
Porter Goss Republican January 3, 1989 –
January 3, 1993		 Redistricted to the 14th district.
Dan Miller Republican January 3, 1993 –
January 3, 2003		 Retired. [Data unknown/missing.]
Katherine Harris Republican January 3, 2003 –
January 3, 2007		 Retired to run for U.S. Senate.
Vern Buchanan Republican January 3, 2007 –
January 3, 2013		 Redistricted to the 16th district.
Bill Young Republican January 3, 2013 –
October 18, 2013		 Redistricted from the 10th district.
Died.
Vacant October 18, 2013 –
March 11, 2014
David Jolly Republican March 11, 2014 –
January 3, 2017		 First elected to finish Young's term.
Re-elected in November 2014.
Lost re-election.
Charlie Crist Democratic January 3, 2017 –
Present		 Incumbent

Recent election results from presidential races

Year Results
2000 George W. Bush 55% - Al Gore 46%[10]
2004 George W. Bush 56% - John Kerry 44%[10]
2008 John McCain 52% - Barack Obama 47%[10]
2012 Barack Obama 50% - Mitt Romney 49%
2016 Hillary Clinton 50% - Donald Trump 46%

Election results

2002

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2002)
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Katherine Harris 139,048 54.79
Democratic Jan Schneider 114,739 45.21
Total votes 253,787 100.00
Turnout  
Republican hold

2004

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2004)
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Katherine Harris (Incumbent) 190,477 55.30
Democratic Jan Schneider 153,961 44.70
Total votes 344,438 100.00
Turnout  
Republican hold

2006

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2006)
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Vern Buchanan 119,309 50.08
Democratic Christine Jennings 118,940 49.92
Total votes 238,249 100.00
Turnout  
Republican hold

Election officials certified Buchanan as the winner of the race over Jennings by 369 votes. Buchanan was declared the winner after a mandatory recount and analysis of alleged voting machine errors in the race. The primary controversy in this race was that over 18,000 ballots (or roughly one in six) cast in Sarasota County apparently did not register a vote for this race, far higher than in the two previous elections involving Jan Schneider, but lower than the undervote in 2000. Sarasota County voted for Jennings by a six-point margin. Jennings refused to concede the race and pursued administrative and legal challenges to the result, including an appeal for an investigation of the election with the House Administration Committee.[11] Preliminary results from an investigation by Congress's Government Accountability Office concluded that there was no evidence that the voting machines caused the high undervote, but that inadequate testing made it impossible to prove their complete reliability.[12] Sarasota County has since moved to optical scanned paper ballots as a result of a 2006 referendum vote.

According to a statistical study published in 2008,[13] the missing votes were caused by the ballot screen layout. The authors' best estimate on what the result would have been, had this problem not occurred, gave victory to Jennings at a 99.9% confidence level, and a mean margin of victory for her of 639 votes.

2008

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2008)
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Vern Buchanan (Incumbent) 204,382 55.43
Democratic Christine Jennings 137,967 37.42
Independent Jan Schneider 20,989 5.69
Independent Don Baldauf 5,358 1.45
Total votes 368,696 100.00
Turnout  
Republican hold

2010

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2010)
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Vern Buchanan (Incumbent) 183,811 68.86
Democratic James T. Golden 83,123 31.14
Total votes 266,934 100.00
Turnout  
Republican hold

2012

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2012)[14]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Bill Young (Redistricted incumbent) 189,609 57.57
Democratic Jessica Ehrlich 139,742 42.43
Total votes 329,347 100.00
Turnout  
Republican hold

2014 (special)

Florida's 13th Congressional District special election (2014)[15]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican David Jolly 89,095 48.52
Democratic Alex Sink 85,639 46.64
Libertarian Lucas Overby 8,893 4.84
Total votes 183,927 100
Turnout  
Republican hold

The district's seat was vacated following the death of Republican Bill Young.[16] A special election was held on March 11, 2014 to replace him. The election was won by Republican David Jolly with 48.52% of the vote over the one time Gubernatorial candidate Democrat Alex Sink's 46.64% and Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby's 4.84%.

2014

Florida's 13th Congressional District election, 2014[17]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican David Jolly 168,172 75.22
Libertarian Lucas Overby 55,318 24.74
Write-in Michael Stephen Levinson 86 .04
Total votes 223,576 100.00
Republican hold

2016

Florida's 13th Congressional District Election (2016)[18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Charlie Crist 184,693 51.90
Republican David Jolly (Incumbent) 171,149 48.10
Total votes 355,842 100.00
Democratic gain from Republican

Living former representatives

As of January 2017, there are six living former members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 13th congressional district. The most recent representative to die was the incumbent Bill Young, who died in office on October 18, 2013.

Representative Term of office Date of birth (and age)
Connie Mack III 1983–1989 October 29, 1940
Porter Goss 1989–1993 November 26, 1938
Dan Miller 1993–2003 May 30, 1942
Katherine Harris 2003–2007 April 5, 1957
Vern Buchanan 2007–2013 May 8, 1951
David Jolly 2014–2017 October 31, 1972

References

  1. ↑ "Congressional Plan--SC14-1905 (Ordered by The Florida Supreme Court, 2-December-2015)" (PDF). Florida Senate Committee on Reapportionment. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  2. ↑ https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/cd_state.html
  3. ↑ https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=12&cd=13
  4. ↑ "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  5. ↑ See whole Florida state map for 2013, with the 13th district covering Sumter County, Hernando to Marion County: h9047_35x42L.pdf Congressional Plan: H000C9047. Chapter No. 2012-2, Laws of Florida. www.flsenate.gov. February 16, 2012.
  6. ↑ See 2013 borders of 13th district in the 2013 districts map: H000C9047_map_bb.pdf, for the Big Bend region of Florida. Congressional Plan: H000C9047. Chapter No. 2012-2, Laws of Florida. www.flsenate.gov. February 2012.
  7. ↑ Mary Ellen Klass, "Florida Supreme Court orders new congressional map with eight districts to be redrawn", Tampa Bay Times, July 9, 2015, February 11, 2016
  8. ↑ "Supreme Court of Florida: The League of Women Voters of Florida vs. Ken Detzner" (PDF).
  9. ↑ Adam C. Smith, "Republicans may walk away from the congressional district where Florida GOP was born", Tampa Bay Times,July 16, 2015, accessed February 11, 2016
  10. 1 2 3 http://www.swingstateproject.com/diary/4161/
  11. ↑ The CQPolitics Interview: Christine Jennings (December 6, 2006)
  12. ↑ GAO Report (October 2, 2007)
  13. ↑ Arlene Ash and John Lamperti (Spring 2008). "Florida 2006: Can Statistics Tell Us Who Won Congressional District-13?" (pdf). Chance. Springer. 21 (2): 18–24. doi:10.1007/s00144-008-0015-5. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  14. ↑ http://enr.votepinellas.com/FL/Pinellas/43334/112818/en/summary.html
  15. ↑ http://www.politico.com/2013-election/results/house/florida/
  16. ↑ Juliet Eilperin (October 18, 2013). "C. W. "Bill" Young, longest-serving Republican in the House, dies at 82". The Washington Post.
  17. ↑ "November 4, 2014 General Election Official Results". Florida Department of State Division of Elections. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  18. ↑ http://enr.votepinellas.com/FL/Pinellas/64408/183835/en/summary.html
  • 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: 27°51′58″N 82°44′54″W / 27.86611°N 82.74833°W / 27.86611; -82.74833

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