Virginia's 3rd congressional district

Infobox U.S. congressional district
state = Virginia
district number = 3

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image width = 300
image caption =
representative = Robert C. Scott
party = Democratic
english area =
metric area =
percent urban =
percent rural =
population = 643,476
population year = 2000
median income = 32,238
percent white = 38.6
percent black = 56.4
percent asian = 1.4
percent native american = 0.5
percent hispanic = 2.6
percent other race = 0.3
percent blue collar =
percent white collar =
percent gray collar =
cpvi = D+18

Virginia's third congressional district is a United States congressional district in the commonwealth of Virginia. It covers the counties of New Kent, Charles City, Prince George, Surry, and all or part of the Cities of Richmond, Hampton, Newport News, Portsmouth and Norfolk. The current representative is Robert C. Scott (D).

Historical composition of the district

In 1788 Virginia's 3rd Congressional District consisted of all of modern Virginia including and west of the counties of Carroll, Floyd, Roanoke, Botetourt, Augusta and Rockingham. It also included what is today Pendleton County, West Virginia and also about the southern third of West Virginia which in 1788 was all Greenbrier County. This area that is today about 48 counties and 13 independent cities was in 1788 only nine counties. [Parsons, Stanley B, William W. Beach and Dan Hermann. "United States Congressional Districts 1788-1841". (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1978) p. 29]

In the 1790 census this area had a population of 66,045. [Parsons. "Congressional Districts". p. 28]

For the 1792 congressional elections the number of congressional districts in Virginia rose from 10 to 19. The only county that remained in the third district was Pendleton County. Harrison, Randolph, Hardy, Hampshire, Monongalia and Ohio Counties, all now in West Virginia were also in the district. [Parsons. "Congressional Districts". p. 71] This was all of northern West Virginia except the far eastern panhandle area. The new district's 1790 population was 30,145. [Parsons. "Congressional Districts". p. 70]

The 1800 Census lead to another increase in Virginia's congressional districts in 1802. The third district was again moved, this time to what was then Frederick and Shenandoah Counties in Virginia, which besides those counties also included the modern couties of Clarke, Warren and part of Page. [Parsons. "Congressional Districts". p. 129] The new 3rd district had a population of 38,767 in 1800. [Parsons. "Congressional Districts". p. 128]

The district's current configuration dates to 1993, when the Justice Department ordered Virginia to create a majority-minority district. At that time, portions of the old 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th districts were combined to create a new 3rd District. Some minor changes were made as a result of a 1997 federal court decision that the old 3rd was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, but its boundaries have been largely unchanged since 1993.

Representatives

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