Virginia's 6th congressional district

Virginia’s sixth congressional district is a United States congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It covers much of the west-central portion of the state, including Roanoke, Lynchburg and most of the Shenandoah Valley. The current representative is Ben Cline (R), who has held the seat since the 2019 retirement of incumbent Republican Bob Goodlatte.

Virginia's 6th congressional district
Virginia’s 6th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Representative	Ben Cline R–Rockbridge County
Distribution	64.34% urban[1] 35.66% rural
Population (2016)	754,859[2]
Median income	$50,061
Ethnicity	83.25% white 11.44% black 5.19% Hispanic 1.63% Asian 0.16% Native American
Cook PVI	R+13[3]

The district was an open seat in 2018. In November 2017, Goodlatte announced that he would retire from Congress at the end of his current term, and would not seek re-election.[4]

Historically, the 6th district was one of the first areas of Virginia to turn Republican. Many of the old Byrd Democrats in the area began splitting their tickets and voting Republican at the national level as early as the 1930s. It was also one of the first areas of Virginia where Republicans were able to break the long Democratic dominance at the state and local level. The district itself was in Republican hands from 1953 to 1983. Democrat Jim Olin then won the seat in 1982, and held it for a decade before Goodlatte won it.

Some counties in the district have not supported a Democrat for president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. For instance, Highland and Shenandoah counties last voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 1932, and Augusta and Roanoke counties have not supported a Democrat since 1944.[5] The district as a whole has not supported a Democrat for president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Area covered

It covers all or part of the following political subdivisions:

Counties

The entirety of:

• Amherst County
• Augusta County
• Bath County
• Botetourt County
• Highland County
• Page County
• Rockbridge County
• Rockingham County
• Shenandoah County
• Warren County

Portions of:

• Bedford County
• Roanoke County

Cities

• Buena Vista
• Harrisonburg
• Lexington
• Lynchburg
• Roanoke
• Staunton
• Waynesboro

Recent results in statewide elections

Year	Office	Results
1996	President	Dole 50%–40%
	Senator	Warner 54%–46%
1997	Governor	Gilmore 60%–38%
	Lieutenant Governor	Hager 53%–43%
	Attorney General	Earley 62%–38%
2000	President	Bush 60%–37%
	Senator	Allen 58%–42%
2001	Governor	Earley 51%–49%
	Lieutenant Governor	Katzen 54%–45%
	Attorney General	Kilgore 67%–33%
2004	President	Bush 63%–36%
2008	President	McCain 57%–42%
2013	Governor	Cuccinelli 57%–35%–7%[6]
	Lieutenant Governor	Jackson 58%–42%[7]
	Attorney General	Obenshain 64%–35%[8]
2014	Senator	Gillespie 60%–37%[9]
2018	Senator	Stewart 57%–41%[10]

List of members representing the district

Representative	Party	Term	Cong ress	Electoral history
Isaac Coles	Anti-Administration	March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1791	1st	Elected in 1789. Re-elected in 1790. Retired.
Abraham B. Venable	Anti-Administration	March 4, 1791 – March 3, 1793	2nd	Elected in 1790. Redistricted to the 7th district.
Isaac Coles	Anti-Administration	March 4, 1793 – March 3, 1795	3rd 4th	Elected in 1793. Re-elected in 1795. Retired.
	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1795 – March 3, 1797
Matthew Clay	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1797 – March 3, 1803	5th 6th 7th	Elected in 1797. Re-elected in 1799. Re-elected in 1801. Redistricted to the 14th district.
Abram Trigg	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1809	8th 9th 10th	Redistricted from the 4th district and re-elected in 1803. Re-elected in 1805. Re-elected in 1807. Retired.
Daniel Sheffey	Federalist	March 4, 1809 – March 3, 1817	11th 12th 13th 14th	Elected in 1809. Re-elected in 1811. Re-elected in 1813. Re-elected in 1815. Retired.
Alexander Smyth	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1823	15th 16th 17th	Elected in 1817. Redistricted to the 22nd district.
George Tucker	Crawford Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	18th	Redistricted from the 15th district and re-elected in 1823. Lost re-election.
Thomas Davenport	Jackson	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1833	19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd	Elected in 1825. Re-elected in 1827. Re-elected in 1829. [data unknown/missing]
	Anti-Jackson	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835		[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Walter Coles	Jackson	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837	24th 25th 26th 27th	[data unknown/missing]
	Democratic	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843		[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 3rd district.
John W. Jones	Democratic	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845	28th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
James A. Seddon	Democratic	March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1847	29th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
John M. Botts	Whig	March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849	30th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
James A. Seddon	Democratic	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851	31st	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
John S. Caskie	Democratic	March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853	32nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 3rd district.
Paulus Powell	Democratic	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1859	33rd 34th 35th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Shelton F. Leake	Independent Democratic	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861	36th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Vacant		March 4, 1861 – January 26, 1870	Civil War
William Milnes Jr.	Conservative	January 27, 1870 – March 3, 1871	41st	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
John T. Harris	Democratic	March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873	42nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 7th district.
Thomas Whitehead	Democratic	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875	43rd	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
John R. Tucker	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1885	44th 45th 46th 47th 48th	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the 10th district.
John W. Daniel	Democratic	March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1887	49th	[data unknown/missing] Elected to the U.S. Senate
Samuel I. Hopkins	Labor Party	March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1889	50th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Paul C. Edmunds	Democratic	March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1895	51st 52nd 53rd	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Peter J. Otey	Democratic	March 4, 1895 – May 4, 1902	54th 55th 56th 57th	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant		May 5, 1902 – November 3, 1902
E. Carter Glass	Democratic	November 4, 1902 – December 16, 1918	57th 58th 59th 60th 61st 62nd 63rd 64th 65th	Elected to finish Otey's term. Elected the same day to the next term. Re-elected in 1904. Re-elected in 1906. Re-elected in 1908. Re-elected in 1910. Re-elected in 1912. Re-elected in 1914. Re-elected in 1916. Re-elected in 1918. Resigned to become U.S. Secretary of Treasury.
Vacant		December 17, 1918 – February 24, 1919	65th
James P. Woods	Democratic	February 25, 1919 – March 3, 1923	65th 66th 67th	Elected to finish Glass's term. Elected the same day to the next term. Lost re-election.
Clifton A. Woodrum	Democratic	March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1933	68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd	[data unknown/missing] Redistricted to the at-large seat.
District eliminated March 4, 1933
District recreated January 3, 1935
Clifton A. Woodrum	Democratic	January 3, 1935 – December 31, 1945	74th 75th 76th 77th 78th 79th	[data unknown/missing] Resigned.
Vacant		December 31, 1945 – January 22, 1946
J. Lindsay Almond Jr.	Democratic	January 22, 1946 – April 17, 1948	79th 80th	Elected January 22, 1946 to finish Woodrum's term. Elected Attorney General of Virginia.
Vacant		April 17, 1948 – November 2, 1948
Clarence G. Burton	Democratic	November 2, 1948 – January 3, 1953	80th 81st 82nd	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Richard H. Poff	Republican	January 3, 1953 – August 29, 1972	83rd 84th 85th 86th 87th 88th 89th 90th 91st 92nd	[data unknown/missing] Resigned when appointed Virginia Supreme Court justice.
Vacant		August 29, 1972 – November 7, 1972
M. Caldwell Butler	Republican	November 7, 1972 – January 3, 1983	92nd 93rd 94th 95th 96th 97th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Jim Olin	Democratic	January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1993	98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Bob Goodlatte	Republican	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2019	103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th 112th 113th 114th 115th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Ben Cline	Republican	January 3, 2019 – Present	116th	Elected in 2018.

Historical district boundaries

2003–2013

See also

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

References

1. Geography, US Census Bureau. "Congressional Districts Relationship Files (state-based)". www.census.gov. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
2. Bureau, Center for New Media & Promotion (CNMP), US Census. "My Congressional District". www.census.gov. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
3. "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
4. Forman, Carmen (November 9, 2017). "After nearly a quarter century in D.C., Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Roanoke County will not seek re-election". The Roanoke Times. Roanoke, VA. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
5. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004; pp. 326-330 ISBN 0786422173
6. "Governor>Votes by District". November 2013 General Election Official Results. Virginia State Board of Elections. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
7. "Lieutenant Governor>Votes by District". November 2013 General Election Official Results. Virginia State Board of Elections. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
8. "Attorney General>Votes by District". November 2013 General Election Official Results. Virginia State Board of Elections. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
9. "Turnout by Congressional District". The Virginia Public Access Project. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
10. "2018 U.S. Senate Results by Congressional District". The Virginia Public Access Project. Retrieved 2018-06-16.

• 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