Tennessee's 2nd congressional district

The 2nd congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district in East Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican Tim Burchett since January 2019.

Tennessee's 2nd congressional district
Tennessee's 2nd congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Representative	Tim Burchett R–Knoxville
Distribution	74.15% urban[1] 25.85% rural
Population (2016)	740,182[2]
Median income	$52,025[2]
Ethnicity	88.89% white 6.34% black 3.97% Hispanic 1.65% Asian 0.28% Native American
Cook PVI	R+20[3]

Current boundaries

The district is located in East Tennessee and borders Kentucky to the north and North Carolina to the south.

It is currently composed of the following counties: Blount, Claiborne, Grainger, Knox, and Loudon. It also contains a small piece of Campbell County and a large piece of Jefferson County.

Characteristics

The district is based in Knoxville, and is largely coextensive with that city's metropolitan area.

The area is known for being the home of the flagship campus for the University of Tennessee, hosting the 1982 World's Fair, and for being the headquarters for the Tennessee Valley Authority, Ruby Tuesday, and Pilot Flying J.

The 2nd is similar in character to the neighboring 1st, and has long been one of the safest districts in the nation for the Republican Party. No Democrat has represented the district since 1855, and Republicans have held the district continuously since 1859. The Democrats waged some competitive races in the district during the 1930s, but have not made a substantive bid for the district since 1964.

This district traditionally gives its congressmen very long tenures in Washington, electing some of the few truly senior Southern Republican congressmen before the 1950s. Since 1909, only seven people (not counting caretakers) have represented the district–Richard W. Austin, J. Will Taylor, John Jennings Jr., Howard Baker Sr., John Duncan Sr., Jimmy Duncan, and Burchett. Six of them have served at least ten years in Congress, with three of those having served at least twenty years.

Election results from presidential races

Year	Office	Result
2000	President	George W. Bush 59% - Al Gore 39%
2004	President	George W. Bush 64% - John Kerry 35%
2008	President	John McCain 64% - Barack Obama 34.5%
2012	President	Mitt Romney 67.3% - Barack Obama 31%
2016	President	Donald Trump 65% - Hillary Clinton 29.7%

History

Although the district has taken many forms over the years, it has included Knoxville every year since 1853.

During the Civil War era, the area was represented in Congress by Horace Maynard. Maynard switched parties many times, but was pro-Union, and did not resign from Congress when Tennessee seceded. Maynard entered Congress in 1857 (four years before the outbreak of the Civil War), but did not leave entirely until 1875 (ten years after the Civil War ended).

For a short period in the 1870s, the area was represented by Jacob M. Thornburgh. For the 44th United States Congress, Thornburgh was the only Republican in the Tennessee delegation.

Following Thornburgh's retirement, the district chose former Union colonel Leonidas C. Houk, who served until his death in 1891, upon which he was succeeded by his son John.

In late 1893, John faced a primary challenge from Henry R. Gibson. Gibson was chosen following this narrow and divisive primary, then went on to serve in Congress for ten years.

Gibson did not seek re-election in 1904 and was succeeded by Nathan W. Hale, who served only two terms.

Similar in character to the Houk/Gibson primary in 1893, Hale faced a divisive primary with eventual winner Richard W. Austin in 1908.

Ten years later, Austin himself was defeated for the Republican nomination, being edged out by former state Republican chairman J. Will Taylor. Taylor managed to serve for twenty years until his death in 1939.

In a special election to fill the vacancy left by Taylor's death, the district elected former judge John Jennings, Jr.. Jennings' tenure nearly perfectly coincided with the 1940s decade.

In 1950, Jennings was defeated in primary by former district attorney Howard Baker, Sr.. Baker served for thirteen years until his death in 1964, where he was succeeded by his widow Irene who did not seek re-election.

In the 1964 election, the district chose Knoxville mayor John Duncan, Sr.. Duncan served for 23 years before his death in summer 1988.

Following Duncan's death, the district elected his son, Jimmy. The younger Duncan served for just over thirty years from late 1988 until his successor was sworn in early January 2019.

Upon Jimmy Duncan's retirement, the district chose outgoing Knox County mayor Tim Burchett, who has served since January 2019.

List of members representing the district

Member	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history	District location
District created March 4, 1805
George W. Campbell	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1805 – March 3, 1809	9th 10th	Redistricted from the at-large district and re-elected in 1805. Re-elected in 1807. Retired to become judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court.	1805–1813 "Hamilton district"
Robert Weakley	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1809 – March 3, 1811	11th	Elected in 1809. Retired.
John Sevier	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1811 – September 24, 1815	12th 13th 14th	Elected in 1811. Re-elected in 1813. Re-elected in 1815. Died.
					1813–1823 [data unknown/missing]
Vacant		September 24, 1815 – December 8, 1815	14th
William G. Blount	Democratic-Republican	December 8, 1815 – March 3, 1819	14th 15th	Elected to finish Sevier's term. Re-elected in 1817. Retired.
John A. Cocke	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1823	16th 17th 18th 19th	Elected in 1819. Re-elected in 1821. Re-elected in 1823. Re-elected in 1825. Retired.
	Jackson Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825			1823–1833 [data unknown/missing]
	Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1827
Pryor Lea	Jacksonian	March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1831	20th 21st	Elected in 1827. Re-elected in 1829. Lost re-election.
Thomas D. Arnold	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1831 – March 3, 1833	22nd	[data unknown/missing]
Samuel Bunch	Jacksonian	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835	23rd 24th	Elected in 1833. [data unknown/missing]	1833–1843 [data unknown/missing]
	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837
Abraham McClellan	Democratic	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843	25th 26th 27th	[data unknown/missing]
William T. Senter	Whig	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845	28th	[data unknown/missing]	1843–1853 [data unknown/missing]
William M. Cocke	Whig	March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1849	29th 30th	[data unknown/missing]
Albert G. Watkins	Whig	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1853	31st 32nd	[data unknown/missing]
William M. Churchwell	Democratic	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855	33rd	Redistricted from the 3rd district. [data unknown/missing]	1853–1863 [data unknown/missing]
William H. Sneed	Know Nothing	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857	34th	[data unknown/missing]
Horace Maynard	Know Nothing	March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1859	35th 36th 37th	[data unknown/missing]
	Opposition	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861
	Unionist	March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863
Vacant		March 4, 1863 – July 24, 1866	38th 39th	Civil War	1863–1873 [data unknown/missing]
Horace Maynard	Unconditional Unionist	July 24, 1866 – March 3, 1867	39th 40th 41st 42nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the at-large district.
	Republican	March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1873
Jacob M. Thornburgh	Republican	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1879	43rd 44th 45th	[data unknown/missing]
Leonidas C. Houk	Republican	March 4, 1879 – May 25, 1891	46th 47th 48th 49th 50th 51st 52nd	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant		May 25, 1891 – December 7, 1891	52nd
John C. Houk	Republican	December 7, 1891 – March 3, 1895	52nd 53rd	Elected November 21, 1891 to finish his father's term and seated December 7, 1891. [data unknown/missing]
Henry R. Gibson	Republican	March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1905	54th 55th 56th 57th 58th	[data unknown/missing]
Nathan W. Hale	Republican	March 4, 1905 – March 3, 1909	59th 60th	[data unknown/missing]
Richard W. Austin	Republican	March 4, 1909 – March 3, 1919	61st 62nd 63rd 64th 65th	[data unknown/missing]
J. Will Taylor	Republican	March 4, 1919 – November 14, 1939	66th 67th 68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd 73rd 74th 75th 76th	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant		November 14, 1939 – December 30, 1939	76th
John Jennings Jr.	Republican	December 30, 1939 – January 3, 1951	76th 77th 78th 79th 80th 81st	Elected to finish Taylor's term. [data unknown/missing]
Howard H. Baker	Republican	January 3, 1951 – January 7, 1964	82nd 83rd 84th 85th 86th 87th 88th	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant		January 7, 1964 – March 10, 1964	88th
Irene Baker	Republican	March 10, 1964 – January 3, 1965		Elected to finish her husband's term. [data unknown/missing]
John J. Duncan	Republican	January 3, 1965 – June 21, 1988	89th 90th 91st 92nd 93rd 94th 95th 96th 97th 98th 99th 100th	[data unknown/missing] Died.
					1983–1993 [data unknown/missing]
Vacant		June 21, 1988 – November 7, 1988	100th
John J. Duncan Jr.	Republican	November 8, 1988 – January 3, 2019	100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th 112th 113th 114th 115th	Elected to finish his father's term. Retired.
					1993–2013 [data unknown/missing]
					2003–2013
					2013–present
Tim Burchett	Republican	January 3, 2019 – present	116th	Incumbent.

See also

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

References

1. https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/cd_state.html
2. Center for New Media & Promotion (CNMP), US Census Bureau. "My Congressional District". www.census.gov.
3. "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.

• 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