Indiana's 8th congressional district

Indiana's 8th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Indiana. Based in southwest and west central Indiana, the district is anchored in Evansville and also includes Jasper, Princeton, Terre Haute, Vincennes and Washington.

"IN-8" redirects here. For the state road, see Indiana State Road 8.

Indiana's 8th congressional district
Indiana's 8th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Representative	Larry Bucshon R–Newburgh
Area	7,041.64 sq mi (18,237.8 km^2)
Distribution	58.10% urban 41.90% rural
Population (2018 est.)	718,591
Median income	$52,785[1]
Ethnicity	90% white[2] 5% black 3% Hispanic 2% other 1% Asian 0% Native American
Cook PVI	R+15[3]

Commonly referred to as "The Bloody Eighth" at the local (and sometimes national) levels (See below for explanation), it was formerly a notorious swing district. However, due to a political realignment similar to contemporary realignment happening in the Deep South and Appalachia, it has in recent elections become a safe Republican district.

Election results from presidential races

Year	Office	Results
2000	President	George W. Bush 57% - Al Gore 42%
2004	President	George W. Bush 62% - John Kerry 38%
2008	President	John McCain 50.6% - Barack Obama 48.1%
2012	President	Mitt Romney 58.4% - Barack Obama 39.6%
2016	President	Donald Trump 64.6% - Hillary Clinton 31%

Counties located in Indiana's 8th Congressional District

As of 2013.

# County	# County	# County	# County	# County
11 Clay Brazil 26,556	13* Crawford English 10,713	14 Daviess Washington 30,726	19 Dubois Jasper 41,889	26 Gibson Princeton 39,750
28 Greene Bloomfield 33,750	42 Knox Vincennes 38,920	51 Martin Shoals 10,370	60 Owen Spencer 21,790	61 Parke Rockville 17,250
62 Perry Tell City 19,332	63 Pike Petersburg 12,845	65 Posey Mt. Vernon 27,500	74 Spencer Rockport 20,952	77 Sullivan Sullivan 21,750
82 Vanderburgh Evansville 191,220	83 Vermillion Newport 16,790	84 Vigo Terre Haute 105,900	87 Warrick Boonville 59,700

• 13 Crawford County exists in both the 8th and 9th Congressional Districts. Within Crawford County, two whole townships; Boone, and Johnson exist in the 8th District, while two other townships; Patoka, and Union, are partitioned by Indiana State Road 145 and Interstate 64 respectively.

Cities of 10,000 or more people

(2010 Census)

• Evansville - 117,429
• Terre Haute - 60,785
• Vincennes - 18,423
• Jasper - 15,038
• Washington - 11,509

2,500 - 10,000 people

(2010 Census)

• Princeton - 8,644
• Brazil - 7,912
• Tell City - 7,272
• Mt. Vernon - 6,687
• Boonville - 6,246
• Linton - 5,413
• Clinton - 4,893
• North Terre Haute - 4,305
• Sullivan - 4,249
• Newburgh - 3,325
• Fort Branch - 2,771
• Bicknell - 2,892

History

Based in Evansville, the 8th Congressional District was widened when Indiana lost a seat after the 2000 U.S. Census to include much of the former 5th and 7th Congressional Districts. At that time, Bloomington (the home of former U.S. Representative Frank McCloskey) was moved into the 9th Congressional District, while the 8th Congressional District was extended northward to include much of the former 7th Congressional District in west-central Indiana, including Terre Haute. As a result of this expansion, the district is the largest in area in Indiana with all or part of 18 counties.

The district has been nicknamed "The Bloody Eighth" because of a series of hard-fought campaigns and political reversals. Unlike most other districts in the state, which tend to give their representatives long tenures in Washington, the 8th Congressional District has a reputation for frequently ousting incumbents from both parties.[4] Voters in the district ousted six incumbents from 1966 to 1982. The election in 1984 was so close that the House of Representatives itself determined which of two candidates to sit, accepting the recommendation of a Democratically controlled House task force sent to Indiana to count the ballots, with the winner, Democrat Frank McCloskey, holding a margin of four votes out of 233,000 cast.[5] After that, McCloskey was reelected four more times before losing to Republican John Hostettler in 1994, amid the Republican Revolution. Hostettler represented the district for six terms before being defeated in a landslide by moderate Democrat Brad Ellsworth in 2006. It was the first district picked up by the Democrats that year, and was one of thirty nationwide that they gained while taking control the House.[6] Ellsworth ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2010 and was succeeded by Republican Larry Bucshon in the same election cycle. Although Southern Indiana is ancestrally Democratic, the Democrats in this area are nowhere near as liberal as their counterparts in the rest of the state; most of them are Blue Dogs. The district also has a strong tint of social conservatism.

In 2000, a New York Times reporter said of the district: "With a populist streak and a conservative bent, this district does not cotton to country club Republicans or to social-engineering liberals," and also said, "More than 95 percent white and about 41 percent rural, the region shares much of the flavor of the Bible Belt."[7]

In 2013, the district shifted away from Northern Indiana and more towards Evansville, losing Fountain and Warren Counties, and gaining Dubois, Perry, and Spencer Counties, and a portion of Crawford County, uniting southwestern Indiana under one district.

List of members representing the district

Representative	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
District created		March 4, 1843
John Pettit	Democratic	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1849	28th 29th 30th	[data unknown/missing]
Joseph E. McDonald	Democratic	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851	31st	[data unknown/missing]
Daniel Mace	Democratic	March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1855	32nd 33rd 34th	[data unknown/missing]
	Opposition	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857
James Wilson	Republican	March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1861	35th 36th	[data unknown/missing]
Albert S. White	Republican	March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863	37th	[data unknown/missing]
Godlove S. Orth	Republican	March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1869	38th 39th 40th	Redistricted to the 7th district.
James N. Tyner	Republican	March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1875	41st 42nd 43rd	Elected to the term left vacant by the resignation of Representative-elect Daniel D. Pratt.
Morton C. Hunter	Republican	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1879	44th 45th	Redistricted from the 6th district.
Abraham J. Hostetler	Democratic	March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1881	46th	[data unknown/missing]
Robert B. F. Peirce	Republican	March 4, 1881 – March 3, 1883	47th	[data unknown/missing]
John E. Lamb	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885	48th	[data unknown/missing]
James T. Johnston	Republican	March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1889	49th 50th	[data unknown/missing]
Elijah V. Brookshire	Democratic	March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1895	51st 52nd 53rd	[data unknown/missing]
George W. Faris	Republican	March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897	54th	Redistricted to the 5th district.
Charles L. Henry	Republican	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1899	55th	Redistricted from the 7th district.
George W. Cromer	Republican	March 4, 1899 – March 3, 1907	56th 57th 58th 59th	[data unknown/missing]
John A. M. Adair	Democratic	March 4, 1907 – March 3, 1917	60th 61st 62nd 63rd 64th	[data unknown/missing]
Albert H. Vestal	Republican	March 4, 1917 – April 1, 1932	65th 66th 67th 68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd	Died.
Vacant		April 1, 1932 – March 3, 1933
John W. Boehne Jr.	Democratic	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1943	73rd 74th 75th 76th 77th	Redistricted from the 1st district.
Charles M. La Follette	Republican	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1947	78th 79th	[data unknown/missing]
E. A. Mitchell	Republican	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949	80th	[data unknown/missing]
Winfield K. Denton	Democratic	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953	81st 82nd	[data unknown/missing]
D. Bailey Merrill	Republican	January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955	83rd	[data unknown/missing]
Winfield K. Denton	Democratic	January 3, 1955 – December 30, 1966	84th 85th 86th 87th 88th 89th	Lost re-election, resigned
Vacant		December 30, 1966 – January 3, 1967
Roger H. Zion	Republican	January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1975	90th 91st 92nd 93rd	Lost re-election
Philip H. Hayes	Democratic	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1977	94th	Retired to run for U.S. Senate
David L. Cornwell	Democratic	January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1979	95th	Lost re-election
H. Joel Deckard	Republican	January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1983	96th 97th	Lost re-election
Frank McCloskey	Democratic	January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1985	98th	Ran in contested election
Vacant		January 3, 1985 – May 1, 1985		Election contested and the House of Representatives refused to seat anyone
Frank McCloskey	Democratic	May 1, 1985 – January 3, 1995	99th 100th 101st 102nd 103rd	Lost re-election
John Hostettler	Republican	January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2007	104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th	Lost re-election
Brad Ellsworth	Democratic	January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011	110th 111th	Retired to run for U.S. Senate
Larry Bucshon	Republican	January 3, 2011 – Present	112th 113th 114th 115th 116th	Elected in 2010

Election results

2002

Indiana's 8th Congressional District Election (2002)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Hostettler*	98,952	51.31
	Democratic	Bryan Hartke	88,763	46.02
	Libertarian	Pam Williams	5,150	2.67
Total votes			192,865	100.00
Turnout
	Republican hold

2004

Indiana's 8th Congressional District Election (2004)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Hostettler*	145,576	53.37
	Democratic	Jon Jennings	121,522	44.55
	Libertarian	Mark Garvin	5,680	2.08
Total votes			272,778	100.00
Turnout
	Republican hold

2006

Indiana's 8th Congressional District Election (2006)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Brad Ellsworth	131,019	61.02
	Republican	John Hostettler*	83,704	38.98
Total votes			214,723	100.00
Turnout
	Democratic gain from Republican

2008

Indiana's 8th Congressional District Election (2008)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Brad Ellsworth*	189,109	64.75
	Republican	Greg Goode	102,940	35.25
Total votes			292,049	100.00
Turnout
	Democratic hold

2010

Indiana's 8th Congressional District Election (2010)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry Bucshon	117,259	57.55
	Democratic	Trent Van Haaften	76,265	37.43
	Libertarian	John Cunningham	10,240	5.03
Total votes			203,764	100.00
Turnout
	Republican gain from Democratic

2012

Indiana's 8th Congressional District Election (2012)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry Bucshon*	151,533	53.36
	Democratic	Dave Crooks	122,325	43.07
	Libertarian	Bart Gadau	10,134	3.57
Total votes			283,992	100.00
Turnout
	Republican hold

2014

Indiana's 8th Congressional District election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry Bucshon (Incumbent)	103,344	60.32
	Democratic	Tom Spangler	61,384	35.83
	Libertarian	Andrew Horning	6,587	3.84
Total votes			171,315	100
	Republican hold

2016

Indiana's 8th Congressional District election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry Bucshon (Incumbent)	187,702	63.69
	Democratic	Ronald L. Drake	93,356	31.68
	Libertarian	Andrew Horning	13,655	4.63
Total votes			294,713	100
	Republican hold

2018

Indiana's 8th Congressional District Election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry Bucshon (Incumbent)	157,396	64.4
	Democratic	William Tanoos	86,895	35.6
Total votes			244,291	100
	Republican hold

Historical district boundaries

2003 - 2013

Indiana congressional districts before and after the most recent redistricting

Note: There has been another change since the "most recent" image, reflected correctly on the 'Indiana districts' page.

See also

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

References

1. https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=18&cd=08
2. https://censusreporter.org/profiles/50000US1808-congressional-district-8-in/
3. "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
4. Brush, Silla (January 8, 2006). "And They're Off And Running!". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
5. https://articles.latimes.com/1986-10-29/news/mn-8026_1_house-race
6. "Democrats pick up key House seat in Indiana". CNN.com. Retrieved 2007-01-07.
7. Dirk Johnson, "The 2000 Campaign: An Indiana Race; Conservatives Face Off in Quirky Populist District", New York Times, October 10, 2000

• 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

External links

• Congressman Larry Bucshon Official House Site

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