Iowa's 4th congressional district

Infobox U.S. congressional district
state = Iowa
district number = 4


image width = 300px
image caption = The 4th congressional district of Iowa
representative = Tom Latham
party = Republican
english area =
metric area =
percent urban =
percent rural =
population = 585,305 [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/elections/keyraces/763/ Washington Post page on the 4th District of Iowa] ]
population year = 2000
median income = 38,242
percent white = 95.8
percent black = 0.8
percent asian = 1.1
percent native american = 0.2
percent hispanic = 2.5
percent other race =
percent blue collar =
percent white collar =
percent gray collar =
cpvi = D+0 [ [http://www.clcblog.org/blog_item-85.html Campaign Legal Center blog: Will Gerrymandered Districts Stem the Wave of Voter Unrest? ] ] The 4th Iowan Congressional District covers most of northern Iowa, and extending into central Iowa ( [http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/ia04_109.gifmap] ); including the college town of Ames, and Fort Dodge. It is currently represented by Republican Tom Latham.

2001 Iowa redistricting plan

June 22nd, 2001, Iowa Legislature passed a plan to redistrict the State of Iowa. The plan went into effect in 2002 for the 108th U.S. Congress. The prior districting plan was effective from 1992-2001. [cite news |title=2001 Iowa Redistricting Plan, |year=2001 |url=http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Redist/Redist.html]

Past redistricting

Since the 1880s, there have been four major changes in the location or nature of Iowa's 4th congressional district. From 1886 until 1941, the district was made up of largely rural counties in northeastern Iowa, including the easternmost five counties in the northernmost two rows ["The Congressional Districts," Waterloo Courier, 1886-04-14 at 4; Iowa's Official Register (1930).] (and, during the 1930s, Buchanan and Delaware counties from the third row). [Iowa's Official Register, 1933-34, at 6.] During that era, the district included areas from Mason City east to the Mississippi River.

In 1941, Iowa's 5th congressional district (made up of rural counties in southern Iowa) was renumbered as Iowa's 4th congressional district, and counties in the old 4th were placed in the 3rd district and the 2nd district.Iowa's Official Register, 1943-1944, at 15.] (In 1942 the old 4th district incumbent, Henry O. Talle, would defeat the 2nd district incumbent William S. Jacobsen in the new 2nd district). From 1941 until 1960 the 4th district included the central five counties of each of the two southernmost tiers, plus four counties between Des Moines and Iowa City (Mahaska, Keokuk, Jasper and Poweshiek). Because the new 4th district was identical to the old 5th district, the incumbent 5th district congressman, Republican Karl M. LeCompte, was elected in 1942 and in the next seven races. In 1958, when LeCompte did not run, Democrat Steven V. Carter defeated Republican John Kyl. A recurrence of cancer would claim Carter's life before the end of his only term, and Kyl won the special election and next general election. In 1961 the 4th district was expanded to include five central Iowa counties - Warren, Marion, Marshall, Tama and Benton ["Another redrawing," Ames Daily Tribune, 1970-07-07 at 4.] - but retained its rural character. Except for the 1964 election, Kyl won each race during this period.

The rural character of the district was changed when Polk County (location of Des Moines and its suburbs) was added in 1971, and many of the rural counties were taken out. [Iowa Official Register, 1973-74, at 30.] In 1972, Kyl was defeated by a Democratic incumbent from Des Moines, Neal Smith. The district became even less rural in 1981, when Story County (home of Ames) was added, and other rural counties were taken out. [Iowa Official Register, 1983-84, at 46.] Smith would hold the seat until his 1994 defeat by Republican Greg Ganske.

Polk County remained in the district until 2001, when the current configuration was adopted. Like its character before 1971, it is predominantly rural. In its current configuration, it includes none of the nine largest cities in Iowa, and only four of the twenty largest Iowa cities. [Iowa League of Cities, [http://www.iowaleague.org/AboutCities/CitiesInIowa.aspx?c=8000 Population of Iowa Cities of 8,000 or More] , accessed 2008-07-27.]

General election history

References