South Carolina's 2nd congressional district

South Carolina's 2nd congressional district
South Carolina's 2nd congressional district – since January 3, 2013.
Current Representative Joe Wilson (R–Springdale, Lexington County)
Population (2000) 668,668
Median income 42,915
Ethnicity
Cook PVI R+12[1]

The 2nd Congressional District of South Carolina is a congressional district in central and southwestern South Carolina. The district spans from Columbia to the South Carolina side of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan area.

From 1993 through 2012, it included all of Lexington, Jasper, Hampton, Allendale and Barnwell counties; most of Richland and Beaufort counties and parts of Aiken, Calhoun and Orangeburg counties.

It was made more compact in the 2010 round of redistricting, and now comprises all of Lexington, Aiken and Barnwell counties, most of Richland County, and part of Orangeburg County. Besides Columbia (60 percent of which is in the district), other major cities in the district include Aiken and North Augusta.

The district's current configuration dates from 1933, following South Carolina losing a seat in apportionment as a result of the 1930 Census showing that the state's population had declined. Before that time, much of its territory had been within the 6th district.

As a Columbia-based district from 1933 to the early 1990s, it was a fairly compact district in the central part of the state, which was largely coextensive with the Columbia metropolitan area. As a result of the 1990 census, the state legislature was required to draw a black-majority district. In a deal between Republicans and Democrats, the 6th District, previously located in the northeastern portion of the state, was redefined to incorporate most of the old 2nd's black residents. To make up for the loss in population, the 2nd was pushed as far west as the fringes of the Augusta suburbs and as far south as Beaufort/Hilton Head.

Since 1965 the 2nd district has been held by the Republican Party, made up of white conservatives in the late 20th-century realignment of political parties in the South. In the decades after the Civil War and before disenfranchisement in 1895 under the new state constitution, members of the Republican Party in South Carolina and the South were mostly African Americans, including many freedmen enfranchised due to Republican support for amendments for emancipation, citizenship and the franchise. After white Democrats regained control of state governments across the South, in the late 19th century, they passed new constitutions from 1890 to 1908 to disenfranchise blacks, excluding them totally from the political process. The Republican Party was crippled in the region and nearly comatose.

As a result of the Civil Rights Movement, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which provided for federal enforcement of blacks' constitutional rights. That year, the 2nd district's second-term Democratic congressman, Albert Watson, resigned, then ran as a Republican in the ensuing special election and won, becoming the first Republican to represent South Carolina in the House since Reconstruction.

Watson gave up the seat to run for governor in 1970. His successor, state senator Floyd Spence, held the seat for more than 30 years. He was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee from 1995 to 2001, and died a few months after being elected to a 16th term. He was succeeded in a special election by one of his former aides, state senator Joe Wilson.

Wilson has since been reelected seven times. In the most recent election, held on November 4, 2014, Wilson earned almost 62.5% of the vote against former Democrat Phil Black and Labor Party candidate Harold Geddings. The district is more than 69% white.

List of representatives

Name Tenure Party Electoral history
Aedanus Burke March 4, 1789 –
March 3, 1791		 Anti-Administration [Data unknown/missing.]
Robert Barnwell March 4, 1791 –
March 3, 1793		 Pro-Administration [Data unknown/missing.]
John Hunter March 4, 1793 –
March 3, 1795		 Anti-Administration [Data unknown/missing.]
Wade Hampton March 4, 1795 –
March 3, 1797		 Democratic-Republican [Data unknown/missing.]
John Rutledge, Jr. March 4, 1797 –
March 3, 1803		 Federalist [Data unknown/missing.]
William Butler March 4, 1803 –
March 3, 1813		 Democratic-Republican Redistricted from the 5th district
William Lowndes March 4, 1813 –
May 8, 1822		 Democratic-Republican Redistricted from the 4th district

Resigned
James Hamilton, Jr. December 13, 1822 –
March 3, 1823		 Democratic-Republican [Data unknown/missing.]
March 4, 1823 –
March 3, 1825		 Jacksonian Democratic-Republican
March 4, 1825 –
March 3, 1829		 Jackson
Robert W. Barnwell March 4, 1829 –
March 3, 1831		 Jackson [Data unknown/missing.]
March 4, 1831 –
March 3, 1833		 Nullifier
William J. Grayson March 4, 1833 –
March 3, 1837		 Nullifier [Data unknown/missing.]
Robert Rhett March 4, 1837 –
March 3, 1843		 Democratic Redistricted to the 7th district
Richard F. Simpson March 4, 1843 –
March 3, 1849		 Democratic [Data unknown/missing.]
James L. Orr March 4, 1849 –
March 3, 1853		 Democratic Redistricted to the 5th district
William Aiken, Jr. March 4, 1853 –
March 3, 1857		 Democratic Redistricted from the 6th district
William P. Miles March 4, 1857 –
December 24, 1860		 Democratic Retired
Civil War –
Occupation and Reconstruction		 December 24, 1860 –
July 20, 1868
Christopher C. Bowen July 20, 1868 –
March 3, 1871		 Republican [Data unknown/missing.]
Robert C. De Large March 4, 1871 –
January 24, 1873		 Republican Seat declared vacant
Alonzo J. Ransier March 4, 1873 –
March 3, 1875		 Republican [Data unknown/missing.]
Edmund W.M. Mackey March 4, 1875 –
July 19, 1876		 Independent Republican Seat declared vacant
Charles W. Buttz November 7, 1876 –
March 3, 1877		 Republican [Data unknown/missing.]
Richard H. Cain March 4, 1877 –
March 3, 1879		 Republican [Data unknown/missing.]
Michael P. O'Connor March 4, 1879 –
March 3, 1881		 Democratic contested election at end of term
Samuel Dibble June 9, 1881 –
May 31, 1882		 Democratic lost contested election
Edmund W.M. Mackey May 31, 1882 –
March 3, 1883		 Republican Redistricted to the 7th district
George D. Tillman March 4, 1883 –
March 3, 1893		 Democratic [Data unknown/missing.]
W. Jasper Talbert March 4, 1893 –
March 3, 1903		 Democratic [Data unknown/missing.]
George W. Croft March 4, 1903 –
March 10, 1904		 Democratic Died
Theodore G. Croft May 17, 1904 –
March 3, 1905		 Democratic [Data unknown/missing.]
James O'H. Patterson March 4, 1905 –
March 3, 1911		 Democratic [Data unknown/missing.]
James F. Byrnes March 4, 1911 –
March 3, 1925		 Democratic [Data unknown/missing.]
Butler B. Hare March 4, 1925 –
March 3, 1933		 Democratic [Data unknown/missing.]
Hampton Fulmer March 4, 1933 –
October 19, 1944		 Democratic Redistricted from the 7th district
Died
Willa L. Fulmer November 7, 1944 –
January 3, 1945		 Democratic [Data unknown/missing.]
John J. Riley January 3, 1945 –
January 3, 1949		 Democratic [Data unknown/missing.]
Hugo S. Sims, Jr. January 3, 1949 –
January 3, 1951		 Democratic [Data unknown/missing.]
John J. Riley January 3, 1951 –
January 1, 1962		 Democratic Died
Corinne Boyd Riley April 10, 1962 –
January 3, 1963		 Democratic [Data unknown/missing.]
Albert Watson January 3, 1963 –
February 1, 1965		 Democratic Resigned
June 15, 1965 –
January 3, 1971		 Republican Re-elected to finish his term as a Republican
Floyd Spence January 3, 1971 –
August 16, 2001		 Republican Died
Joe Wilson December 18, 2001 –
Present		 Republican First elected to finish Spence's term
Name Tenure Party Electoral history

Historical district boundaries

1995 - 2013[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  2. ↑ "The national atlas". nationalatlas.gov. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  • 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
  • Political Graveyard database of South Carolina congressmen

Coordinates: 33°26′N 81°18′W / 33.43°N 81.30°W / 33.43; -81.30

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