Virginia's 9th congressional district

Virginia's ninth congressional district is a United States congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia, covering much of the southwestern part of the state. The 9th is Virginia's second-largest district in area, covering 9,113.87[4][5] square miles (slightly larger than the whole state of New Jersey). Since 2011 it has been represented by Morgan Griffith (R), who took office after defeating Rick Boucher (D), the district's representative for 1983-2011.[6]

Virginia's 9th congressional district
Virginia's 9th congressional district - since January 3, 2013
Representative	Morgan Griffith R–Salem
Area	9,113.87 sq mi (23,604.8 km2)
Distribution	41.75[1]% urban 58.25% rural
Population (2018, estimated)	704,831[2]
Median income	$43,987[2]
Ethnicity	90.8% white 5.4% black 1.4% Asian 2.3% Hispanic 0.3% Native American
Cook PVI	R+19[3]

Largely white, the Ninth was the most competitive Congressional district in the early the 20th century, when Virginia was among the Solid South states and African Americans were disenfranchised. For twenty years (1903-1923), it was the only Congressional District in Virginia - and one of the few in the entire former Confederacy - to be represented by a Republican. The district alternated between Democratic and Republican representation over the rest of the century. Some of the election results were so close - and questionable - that the district became known as "The Fighting Ninth."[7]

Since the 1990s its voters have increasingly cast ballots for Republican presidential candidates. It last supported a Democrat for president in 1996, and has supported a Democrat in only two statewide contests since then.

The 9th is the only district in Virginia that cast more votes for Hillary Clinton than Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary. Clinton won more than 60% of the vote, despite local Congressman Rick Boucher endorsing Obama. Republican presidential candidate John McCain received 59% of the vote in the 9th district in the 2008 General Election, however, his best performance in any of Virginia's eleven congressional districts. Voters in the 9th district supported McCain over Obama in the general election, despite reelecting Democratic Congressman Rick Boucher.[8] In the 2010 Congressional midterm elections, in which Democrats lost their majority in Congress, Virginia State Delegate Morgan Griffith unseated Congressman Boucher by aligning Boucher with President Barack Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, both unpopular figures in the district at the time. Since then, the district has not supported a Democrat in a statewide or federal election (as of 2019).[9]

As of 2017, the 9th district had the highest poverty rate of any Virginia Congressional District, at 18.7 percent.[10]