Mississippi's 4th congressional district

Mississippi's 4th congressional district covers the southeastern region of the state. It includes all of Mississippi's Gulf Coast, stretching ninety miles between the Alabama border to the east and the Louisiana border to the west, and extends north into the Pine Belt region. It includes three of Mississippi's four most heavily populated cities: Gulfport, Biloxi, and Hattiesburg. Other major cities within the district include Bay St. Louis, Laurel, and Pascagoula.[3]

Mississippi's 4th congressional district
Mississippi's 4th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Representative	Steven Palazzo R–Biloxi
Area	9,536 sq mi (24,700 km^2)
Distribution	53.72% urban 46.28% rural
Population (2000)	711,219
Median income	$45,442[1]
Ethnicity	75.3% white 22.6% black 1.8% Hispanic 1.5% Asian 1% other .8% Native American
Occupation	51.9% White-collar 30.6% Blue-collar 18.4% Gray-collar
Cook PVI	R+21[2]

The people of the Mississippi's 4th are currently represented by Republican Steven Palazzo. During the 111th Congress, MS-4, along with Texas's 17th congressional district, was the most Republican district in the nation to be represented by a Democrat,[4] with a Cook PVI of R+20. However, on November 2, 2010, the Democratic incumbents of both districts were defeated by their respective Republican challengers. State Representative Steven Palazzo defeated Rep. Gene Taylor by a 5% vote differential.[5]

From statehood to the election of 1846, Mississippi elected representatives at-large statewide on a general ticket.

Cities

Three of Mississippi's four most heavily populated cities, Gulfport, Biloxi, Hattiesburg are in the Fourth District. Other major cities within the district include Bay St. Louis, Laurel, and Pascagoula.

Counties

Since 2013 the entire counties of Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone, George, Marion, Lamar, Forrest, Perry, Greene, Jones, and Wayne, along with the southeastern part of Clarke are counted in this district.

Federal highways

Interstate 59 is an important north-south route that traverses the district, while coastal Interstate 10 serves as the major east-west route from New Orleans to Mobile. US Highway 49 is a vital hurricane evacuation route and is four-laned from Gulfport to Jackson. US Highway 84 enters the state near Waynesboro and is four-laned statewide, passing through Laurel, Brookhaven and Natchez.

Boundaries

Prior to 2003, the district included most of Jackson, all of Natchez and the southwestern part of the state. In 2003, after Mississippi lost a seat in redistricting, the old 4th District was eliminated. Most of Jackson, as well as the bulk of the district's black constituents, were drawn into the 2nd District, while most of Jackson's suburbs were drawn into the 3rd District. As a result, most of the old 5th District was redefined as the new 4th District.[6]

The perimeter of the current Fourth District extends across the ninety-mile coastal southern edge of Mississippi from the Louisiana border to the Alabama border, following the Alabama state line north along the eastern border of the state to a point due east of Quitman in Clarke County where it is bounded by the 3rd District and then moves in an irregular fashion south of Quitman until it reaches the county line with Wayne County, and then follows the northern and western borders to wholly contain Jones, Forrest, Lamar, and Marion counties until it reaches the Louisiana state line, ultimately bounded by the Pearl River winding to its outlet in Lake Borgne.

History

The district, like most of Mississippi, is built on a strong history of agriculture.

List of members representing the district

Member	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
District created March 4, 1847
Albert G. Brown	Democratic	March 4, 1847 — March 3, 1853	30th 31st 32nd	Elected in 1847. Re-elected in 1849. Re-elected in 1851. Retired.
Wiley Pope Harris	Democratic	March 4, 1853 — March 3, 1855	33rd	Elected in 1853. [data unknown/missing]
William Augustus Lake	Know Nothing	March 4, 1855 — March 3, 1857	34th	Elected in 1855. [data unknown/missing]
Otho Robards Singleton	Democratic	March 4, 1857 — January 12, 1861	35th 36th	Elected in 1857. Re-elected in 1859. Withdrew.
Vacant		January 12, 1861 — February 23, 1870	36th 37th 38th 39th 40th 41st	Civil War and Reconstruction
George Colin McKee	Republican	February 23, 1870 — March 3, 1873	41st 42nd	Elected in 1868 but that election was rejected by the House. Elected again in 1869 to finish the term and to the next term. Redistricted to the 5th district.
Jason Niles	Republican	March 4, 1873 — March 3, 1875	43rd	[data unknown/missing]
Otho Robards Singleton	Democratic	March 4, 1875 — March 3, 1883	44th 45th 46th 47th	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 5th district.
Hernando D. Money	Democratic	March 4, 1883 — March 3, 1885	48th	Redistricted from the 3rd district. [data unknown/missing]
Frederick G. Barry	Democratic	March 4, 1885 — March 3, 1889	49th 50th	[data unknown/missing]
Clarke Lewis	Democratic	March 4, 1889 — March 3, 1893	51st 52nd	[data unknown/missing]
Hernando D. Money	Democratic	March 4, 1893 — March 3, 1897	53rd 54th	[data unknown/missing]
Andrew F. Fox	Democratic	March 4, 1897 — March 3, 1903	55th 56th 57th	[data unknown/missing]
Wilson S. Hill	Democratic	March 4, 1903 — March 3, 1909	58th 59th 60th	[data unknown/missing]
Thomas U. Sisson	Democratic	March 4, 1909 — March 3, 1923	61st 62nd 63rd 64th 65th 66th 67th	[data unknown/missing]
T. Jeff Busby	Democratic	March 4, 1923 — January 3, 1935	68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd 73rd	[data unknown/missing]
Aaron L. Ford	Democratic	January 3, 1935 — January 3, 1943	74th 75th 76th 77th	[data unknown/missing]
Thomas G. Abernethy	Democratic	January 3, 1943 — January 3, 1953	78th 79th 80th 81st 82nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 1st district.
John B. Williams	Democratic	January 3, 1953 — January 3, 1963	83rd 84th 85th 86th 87th	Redistricted from the 7th district. Redistricted to the 3rd district.
W. Arthur Winstead	Democratic	January 3, 1963 — January 3, 1965	88th	Redistricted from the 5th district. [data unknown/missing]
Prentiss Walker	Republican	January 3, 1965 — January 3, 1967	89th	[data unknown/missing]
Sonny Montgomery	Democratic	January 3, 1967 — January 3, 1973	90th 91st 92nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 3rd district.
Thad Cochran	Republican	January 3, 1973 — December 26, 1978	93rd 94th 95th	[data unknown/missing] Retired to run for U.S senator and resigned when appointed senator.
Vacant		December 26, 1978 — January 3, 1979
Jon Hinson	Republican	January 3, 1979 — April 13, 1981	96th 97th	[data unknown/missing] Resigned.
Vacant		April 13, 1981 — July 7, 1981
Wayne Dowdy	Democratic	July 7, 1981 — January 3, 1989	97th 98th 99th 100th	Elected to finish Hinson's term. Retired to run for U.S senator. [data unknown/missing]
Mike Parker	Democratic	January 3, 1989 — November 10, 1995	101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th	[data unknown/missing] Retired to run for Governor of Mississippi.
	Republican	November 10, 1995 — January 3, 1999
Ronnie Shows	Democratic	January 3, 1999 — January 3, 2003	106th 107th	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 3rd district and lost re-election.
Gene Taylor	Democratic	January 3, 2003 — January 3, 2011	108th 109th 110th 111th	Redistricted from the 5th district. Lost re-election.
Steven Palazzo	Republican	January 3, 2011 – Present	112th 113th 114th 115th 116th	Elected in 2010.

Recent elections

2002

2002 Fourth Congressional District of Mississippi Elections

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Gene Taylor	121,742	75.21	-
	Republican	Dr. Karl Cleveland Mertz	34,373	21.24	-
	Libertarian	Wayne L. Parker	3,311	2.05	-
	Reform	Thomas R. Huffmaster	2,442	1.51	-
Turnout			161,868
Majority			87,369	53.98

2004

2004 Fourth Congressional District of Mississippi Elections

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Gene Taylor	181,614	64.77	-10.44
	Republican	Mike Lott	96,740	34.50	+13.26
	Reform	Tracella Hill	2,028	0.72	-0.79
Turnout			280,382
Majority			84,874	30.27

2006

Fourth District incumbent Gene Taylor (D) was re-elected, gathering 80% of the Fourth District's vote. He is considered one of the most conservative Democrats in the House . His district has a Cook Political Report rating of R+16.

Taylor faced challenger Randall "Randy" McDonnell, a former IRS agent. McDonnell, the Republican Party nominee, had also unsuccessfully challenged Taylor in both 1998 and 2000.

Taylor first was elected in 1989 to Mississippi's 5th congressional district, after having lost to Larkin I. Smith in the 1988 race for that open seat, which had been vacated by Trent Lott when Lott made a successful run for the Senate. Smith died eight months later in a plane crash. Taylor came in first in the special election primary to fill the seat, winning the runoff election two weeks later and taking office on October 18, 1989.

In 1990, Taylor won a full term in the 5th District with 81% of the vote, and has been reelected at each election since.

His district was renumbered the 4th after the redistricting of 2000, which cost Mississippi a Congressional seat. In 2004, Taylor was reelected to the House with 64% of their vote, choosing him over both Republican nominee Michael Lott and Reform nominee Tracella Hill.

2006 Fourth Congressional District of Mississippi Elections

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Gene Taylor	110,996	79.79	+15.02
	Republican	Randall "Randy" McDonnell	28,117	20.21	-14.29
Turnout			139,113
Majority			82,879	59.58

2008

2006 Fourth Congressional District of Mississippi Elections

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Gene Taylor		74.54	-5.25
	Republican	John McCay		25.46	+5.25
Turnout
Majority				49.08

2010

2010 Fourth Congressional District of Mississippi Elections

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	Steven Palazzo	105,613	51.93	+26.47
	Democratic	Gene Taylor	95,243	46.83	-27.45
	Libertarian	Tim Hampton	1,741	0.86	+0.86
	Reform	Anna Revies	787	0.39	+0.39
Turnout			203,384
Majority			9,480	4.84

Historical district boundaries

2003 - 2013

See also

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

References

1. https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=28&cd=04
2. "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
3. "About South Mississippi | U.S. House of Representatives". palazzo.house.gov. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-03-29. Retrieved 2009-04-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. 2010 Mississippi Election Results New York Times. November 12, 2010.
6. Almanac of American Politics, 2002, p. 872

• 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