Tennessee's 6th congressional district

The district is located in north-central Tennessee and borders Kentucky to the north. It is currently composed of the following counties: Cannon, Clay, Coffee, Cumberland, DeKalb, Fentress, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Robertson, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, White, and Wilson. It also contains very small pieces of Cheatham and Van Buren.

Much of the Sixth District is rural and wooded. It is spread across the geographic regions known as the Cumberland Plateau, the Highland Rim, and the Central Basin. The area is known for its waterfalls, such as Burgess Falls and Cummins Falls.

With close access to interstates 24, 40, and 65, subdivisions are sprouting almost exponentially, fast filling with new economy managers. Recently, many companies have opened either manufacturing or distribution centers in the 6th District. This includes Amazon[5] and Bridgestone-Firestone[6] in Lebanon, gun manufacturer Beretta[7] in Gallatin, and clothing manufacturer Under Armour[8] in Mt. Juliet.

Politically speaking, the region was traditionally a "Yellow Dog Democrat" district. However, the district began shifting rightward as Nashville's suburbs bled into the district. It supported Bill Clinton in 1992, partly due to Gore's presence as Clinton's running mate. However, it has not supported a Democrat for president since. By the turn of the century, it was obvious that the Democrats would have a hard time holding onto the district once longtime Democratic incumbent Bart Gordon retired.

Gordon retired in 2010, and Republican state senator Diane Black won the seat in a landslide, proving just how Republican this district had become. The 2010 redistricting made the district even more Republican, with its longtime anchor, Murfreesboro, being drawn out of the district. Since then, no Democrat has won an entire county within the district in any presidential, gubernatorial, senate, or congressional election.[9][10] Indeed, no Democrat has crossed the 30 percent mark in the district since Gordon's retirement.

According to the 2010 census, the five largest cities are Hendersonville (51,372), Cookeville (30,425), Gallatin (30,278), Lebanon (26,190), and Mt. Juliet (23,671).[11]

Prior to the 1980 census, when Tennessee picked up a district, most of what is now the 6th district was in the 4th district.

During the 1940s, this area was represented by Albert Gore, Sr. of Carthage. Gore was elected to the United States Senate in 1952, where he was instrumental in creating the Interstate Highway system.[12]

From 1953 to 1977, the area was represented by Joe L. Evins of Smithville. Evins's nephew, Dan Evins, was the founder of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant/retail chain.[13] Cracker Barrel's headquarters are still located in Lebanon.[14]

In 1976, Evins was succeeded by Al Gore, future Vice President and son of Albert Gore, Sr. He was representing the area when much of it was moved into the present 6th District.

Shortly following the redistricting into the 6th District, Gore was elected to the United States Senate. He was then succeeded by former Democratic State Chair Bart Gordon of Murfreesboro. Gordon held the post for the next twenty-six years, relatively unopposed. The only year he faced much opposition was 1994, when attorney Steve Gill ran against him. Gordon defeated Gill by only one percentage point.[15]

Diane Black was elected in the Republican landslide of 2010 when Democrat Bart Gordon decided to end a 26-year career in Congress. Black's victory marked the first time that much of the district had been represented by a Republican since 1921, and for only the second time since Reconstruction.

Following an eight-year stint in Congress, Black made an unsuccessful run for Governor of Tennessee in 2018. In the concurrent election, the district selected businessman and former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner John Rose.

District created March 4, 1813.

Member (Residence)	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history	District location
Parry W. Humpreys (Nashville)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1815	13th	Elected in 1813. Retired.	[data unknown/missing]
James B. Reynolds ([data unknown/missing])	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817	14th	Elected in 1815. Lost re-election.
George W. L. Marr ([data unknown/missing])	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1819	15th	Elected in 1817. Lost renomination.
Henry H. Bryan ([data unknown/missing])	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1821	16th	Elected in 1819. Re-elected in 1821 but failed to qualify.
Vacant		March 4, 1821 – March 3, 1823	17th
James T. Sandford ([data unknown/missing])	Jackson Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	18th	[data unknown/missing]	[data unknown/missing]
James K. Polk (Columbia)	Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1833	19th 20th 21st 22nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 9th district.
Balie Peyton ([data unknown/missing])	Jacksonian	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835	23rd 24th	[data unknown/missing]
	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837
William B. Campbell (Carthage)	Whig	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843	25th 26th 27th	[data unknown/missing]
Aaron V. Brown (Nashville)	Democratic	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845	28th	Redistricted from the 10th district and re-elected in 1843. [data unknown/missing]
Barclay Martin (Columbia)	Democratic	March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1847	29th	[data unknown/missing]
James H. Thomas (Columbia)	Democratic	March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1851	30th 31st	[data unknown/missing]
William H. Polk (Columbia)	Independent Democratic	March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853	32nd	[data unknown/missing]
George W. Jones (Fayetteville)	Democratic	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1859	33rd 34th 35th	Redistricted from the 5th district and re-elected in 1853. [data unknown/missing]
James H. Thomas (Columbia)	Democratic	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861	36th	[data unknown/missing]
American Civil War
Sanuel M. Arnell (Columbia)	Unconditional Unionist	July 24, 1866 – March 3, 1867	39th 40th 41st	[data unknown/missing]
	Republican	March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1871
Washington C. Whitthorne (Columbia)	Democratic	March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1875	42nd 43rd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 7th district.
John F. House (Clarksville)	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883	44th 45th 46th 47th	[data unknown/missing]
Andrew J. Caldwell (Nashville)	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887	48th 49th	[data unknown/missing]
Joseph E. Washington (Robertson County)	Democratic	March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1897	50th 51st 52nd 53rd 54th	[data unknown/missing]
John W. Gaines (Nashville)	Democratic	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1909	55th 56th 57th 58th 59th 60th	[data unknown/missing]
Jo Byrns (Nashville)	Democratic	March 4, 1909 – March 3, 1933	61st 62nd 63rd 64th 65th 66th 67th 68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 5th district.
Clarence W. Turner (Waverly)	Democratic	March 4, 1933 – March 23, 1939	73rd 74th 75th 76th	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant		March 23, 1939 – May 11, 1939	76th
W. Wirt Courtney (Franklin)	Democratic	May 11, 1939 – January 3, 1943	76th 77th	Elected to finish Turner's term. Redistricted to the 7th district.
Percy Priest (Columbia)	Democratic	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1953	78th 79th 80th 81st 82nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 5th district.
James P. Sutton (Lawrenceburg)	Democratic	January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955	83rd	Redistricted from the 7th district and re-elected in 1952. [data unknown/missing]
Ross Bass (Pulaski)	Democratic	January 3, 1955 – November 3, 1964	84th 85th 86th 87th 88th	[data unknown/missing] Resigned to become U.S. senator.
Vacant		November 3, 1964 – January 3, 1965	88th
William R. Anderson (Waverly)	Democratic	January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1973	89th 90th 91st 92nd	[data unknown/missing]
Robin Beard (Somerville)	Republican	January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1983	93rd 94th 95th 96th 97th	[data unknown/missing]
Al Gore (Carthage)	Democratic	January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1985	98th	Redistricted from the 4th district and re-elected in 1982. Retired to run for U.S. senator.
Bart Gordon (Murfreesboro)	Democratic	January 3, 1985 – January 3, 2011	99th 100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
					2003 – 2013
Diane Black (Gallatin)	Republican	January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2019	112th 113th 114th 115th	[data unknown/missing] Retired to run for Governor of Tennessee.
					2013 – Present
John Rose (Cookeville, Temperance Hall)	Republican	January 3, 2019 – Present	116th	Elected in 2018.

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

• 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 Tennessee congressmen

• Congress.com: Tennessee Congressional districts