Missouri's 4th congressional district

Missouri's 4th congressional district
	Missouri's 4th congressional district since January 3, 2013
	Vicky Hartzler; R–Harrisonville
Median income	$50,963[1]
Cook PVI	R+17[2]

Missouri's 4th congressional district consists of west central Missouri. The district is predominantly rural and relatively conservative; George W. Bush defeated John Kerry 64% to 35% in Election 2004 and John McCain defeated Barack Obama 61% to 38% in Election 2008. The district is currently represented by Vicky Hartzler, a Republican. She was first elected in the 2010 election, defeating 34-year Democratic incumbent Ike Skelton.

This district had historically been a Democratic Party stronghold. Antipathy to the Republican Party had its origins in the American Civil War and the infamous General Order 11. The Union Army ordered evacuation of the county in an attempt to reduce support for and the power of bushwhacker guerrillas. After the Civil War, there was disfranchisement of white males (mostly Democrats) who had been active for the Confederacy until they took loyalty oaths, or until 1870. The area was filled with conflict between Missouri's Radicals, who joined the Republicans, and Conservatives, who were Democrats. By 1880 former secessionists dominated Missouri's congressional delegation and state legislature.

Gradually this area developed a character similar to Yellow Dog Democrat districts in the South. Until 2010, only one Republican had been elected here since the Great Depression, and only for one term. Bill Clinton, former governor of Arkansas, carried this district by a lopsided margin in 1992 and carried it again by a smaller margin in 1996.

However, several demographic trends have converged to erode the Democratic base in this district. First, as the New York Times election maps show, the predominantly rural counties lining the Missouri River have sharply trended Republican between the 2000 Senate election and the 2006 election, following trends across the South.[3] Secondly, population losses in Kansas City resulted in the 4th gradually losing much of its share of heavily Democratic Jackson County to the Kansas City-based 5th district. Until the 1970s, the district stretched as far as Independence. To compensate for this, large portions of heavily Republican Southwest Missouri were reassigned from the neighboring 7th district.[4] The result of these trends resulted in a dramatic collapse of Democratic support in the district. Al Gore, John Kerry, and Barack Obama won less than 40% of the vote here.

List of members representing the district

Member	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
District created March 4, 1847
Willard P. Hall	Democratic	March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1853	30th 31st 32nd	[data unknown/missing]
Mordecai Oliver	Whig	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855	33rd 34th	[data unknown/missing]
Mordecai Oliver	Opposition	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857	33rd 34th	[data unknown/missing]
James Craig	Democratic	March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1861	35th 36th	[data unknown/missing]
Elijah H. Norton	Democratic	March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863	37th	[data unknown/missing]
Sempronius H. Boyd	Unconditional Unionist	March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1865	38th	[data unknown/missing]
John R. Kelso	Independent Republican	March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1867	39th	[data unknown/missing]
Joseph J. Gravely	Republican	March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1869	40th	[data unknown/missing]
Sempronius H. Boyd	Republican	March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871	41st	[data unknown/missing]
Harrison E. Havens	Republican	March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873	42nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 6th district.
Robert A. Hatcher	Democratic	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1879	43rd 44th 45th	[data unknown/missing]
Lowndes H. Davis	Democratic	March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1883	46th 47th	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 14th district.
James N. Burnes	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – January 23, 1889	48th 49th 50th	Elected in 1882. Re-elected in 1884. Re-elected in 1886. Re-elected in 1888 but died.
Vacant		January 23, 1889 – February 19, 1889	50th
Charles F. Booher	Democratic	February 19, 1889 – March 3, 1889	50th	Elected to finish Burnes's term in the 50th Congress. Retired.
Vacant		March 4, 1889 – December 2, 1889	51st
Robert P. C. Wilson	Democratic	December 2, 1889 – March 3, 1893	51st 52nd	Elected to finish Burnes's term in the 51st Congress. [data unknown/missing]
Daniel D. Burnes	Democratic	March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1895	53rd	[data unknown/missing]
George C. Crowther	Republican	March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897	54th	[data unknown/missing]
Charles F. Cochran	Democratic	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1905	55th 56th 57th 58th	[data unknown/missing]
Frank B. Fulkerson	Republican	March 4, 1905 – March 3, 1907	59th	[data unknown/missing]
Charles F. Booher	Democratic	March 4, 1907 – January 21, 1921	60th 61st 62nd 63rd 64th 65th 66th	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant		January 21, 1921 – March 3, 1921	66th
Charles L. Faust	Republican	March 4, 1921 – December 17, 1928	67th 68th 69th 70th	Elected to finish Booher's term. Died.
Vacant		December 17, 1928 – February 5, 1929	70th
David W. Hopkins	Republican	February 5, 1929 – March 3, 1933	70th 71st 72nd	Elected to finish Faust's term in the 70th Congress. Also elected to start Faust's term in the 71st Congress. [data unknown/missing]
District inactive		March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935	73rd	All representatives elected at-large on a general ticket.
C. Jasper Bell	Democratic	January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1949	74th 75th 76th 77th 78th 79th 80th	[data unknown/missing]
Leonard Irving	Democratic	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953	81st 82nd	[data unknown/missing]
Jeffrey P. Hillelson	Republican	January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955	83rd	[data unknown/missing]
George H. Christopher	Democratic	January 3, 1955 – January 23, 1959	84th 85th 86th	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant		January 23, 1959 – March 3, 1959	86th
William J. Randall	Democratic	March 3, 1959 – January 3, 1977	86th 87th 88th 89th 90th 91st 92nd 93rd 94th	Elected to finish Christopher's term. [data unknown/missing]
Ike Skelton	Democratic	January 3, 1977 – January 3, 2011	95th 96th 97th 98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Vicky Hartzler	Republican	January 3, 2011 – present	112th 113th 114th 115th 116th	Elected in 2010.

Election Results

2010 Election

Missouri's 4th district general election, November 2, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Vicky Hartzler	113,489	50.43%
	Democratic	Ike Skelton (Incumbent)	101,532	45.11%
	Libertarian	Jason Michael Braun	6,123	2.72%
	Constitution	Greg Cowan	3,912	1.74%
Total votes			225,056	100.00%

2012 Election

Missouri 4th Congressional District 2012
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	*Vicky Hartzler (Incumbent)*	*192,237*	*60.3*
	Democratic	Teresa Hensley	113,120	35.5%
	Libertarian	Bill Slantz	10,407	3.3%
	Constitution	Greg Cowan	2,959	0.5%
Total votes			318,723	100.0%

2014 Election

Missouri's 4th Congressional District, 2014
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Vicky Hartzler (Incumbent)	120,014	68.08%
	Democratic	Nate Irvin	46,464	26.36%
	Libertarian	Herschel L. Young	9,793	5.56%
	Write-In	Gregory A Cowan	15	0.01%
Total votes			176,286	100%
	Republican hold

2016 Election

Missouri’s 4th congressional district election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Vicky Hartzler	225,348	67.83%
	Democratic	Gordon Christensen	92,510	27.85%
	Libertarian	Mark Bliss	14,376	4.33%
Total votes			332,234	100%
	Republican hold

2018 Election

Missouri’s 4th congressional district election, 2018
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Vicky Hartzler	190,138	64.8%
	Democratic	Renee Hoagenson	95,968	32.7%
	Libertarian	Mark Bliss	7,210	2.5%
Total votes			293,316	100%
	Republican hold

Counties

There is a total of 24 counties included in MO-04.

Election results from presidential races

Year	Office	Results	Political parties that won the district
2000	President	George W. Bush 58 - Al Gore 40%	Republican Party (United States)
2004	President	George W. Bush 64 - John Kerry 35%	Republican Party (United States)
2008	President	John McCain 61 - Barack Obama 38%	Republican Party (United States)
2012	President	Mitt Romney 61 - Barack Obama 36%	Republican Party (United States)
2016	President	Donald Trump 65 - Hillary Clinton 29%	Republican Party (United States)

2008 Presidential Election Results by County

The table below shows how individual counties in MO-04 voted in the 2008 presidential election. U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) won every single county in MO-04 and swept the district with 60.58 percent of the vote while U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) received 37.87 percent, a 22.71-percent margin of victory for the GOP.

County	John McCain	Barack Obama	Difference
Barton	74.21	24.46	R + 49.75
Dade	69.65	28.79	R + 40.86
Moniteau	67.02	31.27	R + 35.75
Laclede	66.62	31.97	R + 34.65
Cedar	66.01	32.42	R + 33.59
Polk	65.39	33.24	R + 32.15
Dallas	63.71	34.57	R + 29.14
Webster	63.77	34.76	R + 29.01
Pulaski	63.68	34.99	R + 28.69
Camden	63.59	35.12	R + 28.47
Cole	62.94	36.03	R + 26.91
Pettis	60.51	38.07	R + 22.44
Benton	60.20	37.93	R + 22.27
Vernon	60.08	38.08	R + 22.00
St. Clair	59.76	37.81	R + 21.95
Morgan	59.58	38.97	R + 20.61
Cass	59.18	39.55	R + 19.63
Bates	58.35	39.49	R + 18.86
Lafayette	56.88	41.58	R + 15.30
Hickory	55.72	42.44	R + 13.28
Johnson	55.18	42.93	R + 12.25
Henry	54.62	43.63	R + 10.99
Ray	50.60	47.42	R + 3.18
Saline	50.39	47.85	R + 2.54

2008 Missouri Democratic Presidential Primary Election Results by County

The table below shows how individual counties in MO-04 voted in the 2008 Missouri Democratic Presidential Primary. Former U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York) swept the district by a convincing margin over U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois). Clinton won every county in the district with the exception of Cole County, home of the State Capitol.

County	Hillary Clinton	Barack Obama	Difference
Benton	68.77	26.95	C + 41.82
St. Clair	67.52	26.12	C + 41.40
Hickory	67.95	27.86	C + 40.09
Ray	65.29	30.31	C + 34.98
Bates	63.51	30.08	C + 33.43
Dallas	63.75	32.01	C + 31.74
Henry	63.18	32.10	C + 31.08
Barton	63.43	32.85	C + 30.58
Polk	63.81	33.28	C + 30.53
Vernon	61.55	31.42	C + 30.13
Dade	62.22	33.12	C + 29.10
Laclede	62.48	33.77	C + 28.71
Morgan	62.05	33.58	C + 28.47
Cedar	60.30	33.00	C + 27.30
Webster	61.20	34.46	C + 26.74
Lafayette	60.75	35.40	C + 25.35
Moniteau	60.38	36.38	C + 24.00
Cass	59.76	36.73	C + 23.03
Saline	57.46	37.85	C + 19.61
Camden	57.99	38.75	C + 19.24
Pulaski	56.07	39.35	C + 16.72
Pettis	54.76	41.38	C + 13.38
Johnson	53.22	43.07	C + 10.15
Cole	45.07	51.16	O + 6.09

Historical district boundaries

2003 - 2013

References

https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=29&cd=04
"Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
"Senate Races". The New York Times.
https://ballotpedia.org/Missouri%27s_4th_Congressional_District

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

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[1] ttps://www.census.gov/mycd/?st=29&cd=04

[Cook-2] "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.

[3] "Senate Races". The New York Times.

[5] ttps://ballotpedia.org/Missouri%27s_4th_Congressional_District