Florida's 5th congressional district

"FL-5" redirects here. For the state road, see Florida State Road 5.

Florida's 5th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Florida. It includes the southeastern area of Jacksonville which comprises areas such as Arlington, East Arlington, Southside, Mandarin, San Jose, and the Beaches. It stretches south to St. Augustine in St. Johns County.

Florida's 5th congressional district
Interactive map of district boundaries since January 3, 2023
Representative	John Rutherford R–Jacksonville
Area	3,911[1] sq mi (10,130 km2)
Distribution	83.37% urban[2] 16.63% rural
Population (2023)	837,211[3]
Median household income	$86,349[3]
Ethnicity	64.7% White 12.1% Hispanic 11.6% Black 6.0% Asian 4.8% Two or more races 0.9% other
Cook PVI	R+11[4]

From 2002 to 2013 the district comprised all of Citrus, Hernando, and Sumter counties and most of Lake, Levy, and Pasco counties and portions of Marion and Polk counties. The district included northern exurbs of Tampa and western exurbs of Orlando within the high-growth Interstate 4 Corridor. This iteration of the 5th district is now largely contained in the 11th district.

As defined by the state legislature in 2013 (which lasted until 2017), the 5th district ran from Jacksonville to Orlando; it was considered one of the most-gerrymandered congressional districts in the country.^[5] Before 2013, similar territory was included in the 3rd district.

After court-mandated redistricting, the district became a majority-minority district from 2017 to 2023. It extended along Florida's northern boundary from Jacksonville to Tallahassee and included all of Baker, Gadsden, Hamilton and Madison counties and portions of Columbia, Duval, Jefferson, and Leon counties.

The district is currently represented by Republican John Rutherford.

Characteristics

Florida's 3rd congressional district was renumbered to 5th congressional district but was little changed in the redistricting process in 2012, still winding from Orlando in the south to central Jacksonville in the north.^[6]

From 1973 to 1993 the erstwhile 3rd district was based in Orange County, including Walt Disney World and most of Orlando. The peculiar shape of the 3rd (now 5th) congressional district dates from reapportionment done by the Florida Legislature after the 1990 U.S. census. The 1993–2012 3rd congressional district was geographically distinctive. Starting from the southern part of the district, it included the Pine Hills area of the Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Area with small pockets of African-American neighborhoods in the cities of Sanford, Gainesville, Palatka, and finally the larger African American communities of Jacksonville.^[7] Connecting these areas were regions which are sparsely populated—either expansive rural areas or narrow strips which are only a few miles wide.^[8][9] Barack Obama received 73% of the vote in this district in the 2008 Presidential election.

Court-ordered changes

On July 11, 2014, Florida Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis ruled that this district, along with the neighboring District 10, had been drawn to favor the Republican Party by packing black Democratic voters into District 5.^[7][10] On August 1, Judge Lewis gave Florida's state legislature an Aug. 15 deadline to submit new congressional maps for those two districts.^[11]

5th district Representative Corrine Brown issued a statement blasting Lewis's decision on the district map as "seriously flawed",^[9] and Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Marcia Fudge sent a sharply worded letter to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel complaining about the party's support for the lawsuit challenging Florida's district maps.^[12]

Brown said that "we will go all the way to the United States Supreme Court, dealing with making sure that African Americans are not disenfranchised."^[13] Florida House Redistricting Chairman Richard Corcoran, a Republican, said that "consideration of political data is legally required" to ensure that district boundaries would not be so shifted as to not allow African-Americans a chance to elect representatives of their choice.^[14]

On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court approved a redrawn version of District 5 on December 2, 2015. That plan went into effect for the 2016 elections.^[15] The new district had a dramatically different shape than its predecessor. It now stretched in an east-west configuration along the Georgia border from downtown Jacksonville to Tallahassee. However, it was no less Democratic than its predecessor, as noted in the Florida Supreme Court's final opinion:

With a black share of registered Democrats of 66.1%, the black candidate of choice is likely to win a contested Democratic primary, and with a Democratic registration advantage of 61.1% to 23.0% over Republicans, the Democratic candidate is likely to win the general election.

Voting

Election results from presidential races
Year	Office	Results
1992	President	Clinton 42–34%
1996	President	Clinton 50–37%
2000	President	Gore 50–46%
2004	President	Bush 58–41%
2008	President	McCain 56–43%
2012	President	Obama 63–35%
2016	President	Clinton 61–35%
2020	President	Biden 62–36%

Composition

#	County	Seat	Population
31	Duval	Jacksonville	1,030,822
109	St. Johns	St. Augustine	320,110

Cities with 10,000 or more people

• Jacksonville – 990,931
• Fruit Cove – 32,143
• Jacksonville Beach – 23,830
• Nocatee – 22,503
• World Golf Village – 22,117
• Palm Valley – 21,827
• St. Augustine – 14,329
• Atlantic Beach – 13,513

2,500-10,000 people

• Neptune Beach – 7,217
• St. Augustine Beach – 6,803
• Sawgrass – 5,385
• St. Augustine South – 5,066
• Vilano Beach – 2,514

List of members representing the district

Member	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history	District location
District created January 3, 1937
Joe Hendricks (DeLand)	Democratic	January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1949	75th 76th 77th 78th 79th 80th	Elected in 1936. Re-elected in 1938. Re-elected in 1940. Re-elected in 1942. Re-elected in 1944. Re-elected in 1946. Retired.	1937–1943 [data missing]
1943–1953 [data missing]
	Syd Herlong (Leesburg)	Democratic	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1967	81st 82nd 83rd 84th 85th 86th 87th 88th 89th	Elected in 1948. Re-elected in 1950. Re-elected in 1952. Re-elected in 1954. Re-elected in 1956. Re-elected in 1958. Re-elected in 1960. Re-elected in 1962. Re-elected in 1964. Re-elected in 1966. Redistricted to the 4th district.
1953–1963 [data missing]
1963–1973 [data missing]
	Edward Gurney (Winter Park)	Republican	January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1969	90th	Redistricted from the 11th district and re-elected in 1966. Retired.
	Louis Frey Jr. (Winter Park)	Republican	January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1973	91st 92nd	Elected in 1968. Re-elected in 1970. Redistricted to the 9th district.
Bill Gunter (Orlando)	Democratic	January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1975	93rd	Elected in 1972. Retired to run for U.S. senator.	1973–1983 [data missing]
Richard Kelly (Holiday)	Republican	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1981	94th 95th 96th	Elected in 1974. Re-elected in 1976. Re-elected in 1978. Lost renomination after involvement in the Abscam scandal.
Bill McCollum (Longwood)	Republican	January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1993	97th 98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd	Elected in 1980. Re-elected in 1982. Re-elected in 1984. Re-elected in 196. Re-elected in 1988. Re-elected in 1990. Redistricted to the 8th district.
1983–1993 [data missing]
Karen Thurman (Dunnellon)	Democratic	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2003	103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th	Elected in 1992. Re-elected in 1994. Re-elected in 1996. Re-elected in 1998. Re-elected in 2000. Lost re-election.	1993–2003 [data missing]
Ginny Brown-Waite (Brooksville)	Republican	January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2011	108th 109th 110th 111th	Elected in 2002. Re-elected in 2004. Re-elected in 2006. Re-elected in 2008. Retired due to health problems.	2003–2013
Rich Nugent (Spring Hill)	Republican	January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2013	112th	Elected in 2010. Redistricted to the 11th district.
Corrine Brown (Jacksonville)	Democratic	January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2017	113th 114th	Redistricted from the 3rd district and re-elected in 2012. Re-elected in 2014. Lost renomination after criminal indictment.	2013–2017
Al Lawson (Tallahassee)	Democratic	January 3, 2017 – January 3, 2023	115th 116th 117th	Elected in 2016. Re-elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020. Redistricted to the 2nd district and lost re-election in 2022.	2017–2023
John Rutherford (Jacksonville)	Republican	January 3, 2023 – present	118th	Redistricted from the 4th district and re-elected in 2022. Re-elected in 2024.	2023–present: Most of Jacksonville, along with parts of that city's southern and eastern suburbs and the city of St. Augustine

Election results

2002

Florida's 5th Congressional District Election (2002)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ginny Brown-Waite	121,998	47.90%
	Democratic	Karen L. Thurman (Incumbent)	117,758	46.24%
	Independent	Jack Gargan	8,639	3.39%
	Independent	Brian P. Moore	6,223	2.44%
	No party	Others	53	0.02%
Total votes			254,671	100.00%
Turnout
	Republican gain from Democratic

2004

Florida's 5th Congressional District Election (2004)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ginny Brown-Waite (Incumbent)	240,315	65.93%
	Democratic	Robert G. Whittel	124,140	34.06%
	No party	Others	33	0.01%
Total votes			364,488	100.00%
Turnout
	Republican hold

2006

Florida's 5th Congressional District Election (2006)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ginny Brown-Waite (Incumbent)	162,421	59.85%
	Democratic	John T. Russell	108,959	40.15%
Total votes			271,380	100.00%
Turnout
	Republican hold

2008

Florida's 5th Congressional District Election (2008)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ginny Brown-Waite (Incumbent)	265,186	61.15%
	Democratic	John T. Russell	168,446	38.85%
Total votes			433,632	100.00%
Turnout
	Republican hold

2010

Florida's 5th Congressional District Election (2010)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rich Nugent	208,815	67.43%
	Democratic	Jim Piccillo	100,858	32.57%
Total votes			309,673
Turnout				100.0%
	Republican hold

2012

Florida's 5th Congressional District Election (2012)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Corrine Brown	190,472	70.80%
	Republican	LeAnne Kolb	70,700	26.30%
	No Party Affiliation	Eileen Fleming	7,978	3.00%
Total votes			269,153
Turnout				100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

2014

Florida's 5th Congressional District Election (2014)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Corrine Brown (Incumbent)	112,340	65.47%
	Republican	Glo Smith	59,237	34.53%
Total votes			171,577
Turnout				100.0%
	Democratic hold

2016

Florida's 5th Congressional District Election (2016)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Al Lawson	194,549	64.2%
	Republican	Glo Smith	108,325	35.8%
Total votes			302,874
Turnout				100.0%
	Democratic hold

2018

Florida's 5th Congressional District Election (2018)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Al Lawson (Incumbent)	180,527	66.78%
	Republican	Virginia Fuller	89,799	33.22%
Total votes			270,326	100.0%
	Democratic hold

2020

Florida's 5th Congressional District Election (2020)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Al Lawson (Incumbent)	219,463	65.13%
	Republican	Gary Adler	117,510	34.87%
Total votes			336,973	100.0%
	Democratic hold

References

1. "Congressional Plan--SC14-1905 (Ordered by The Florida Supreme Court, 2-December-2015)" (PDF). Florida Senate Committee on Reapportionment. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
2. "Congressional Districts Relationship Files (State-based)". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on April 2, 2013.
3. "My Congressional District".
4. "2022 Cook PVI: District Map and List". Cook Political Report. July 12, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
5. Ingraham, Christopher (May 15, 2014). "America's most gerrymandered congressional districts". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
6. "Florida's 5th Congressional District". WJXT - Jacksonville. July 24, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
7. James, Frank (July 11, 2014). "Florida Ruling Is A Primer On Redistricting Chicanery". NPR.org. National Public Radio. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
8. Leary, Alex (May 14, 2011). "Democrat U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown again aligns with GOP in Florida redistricting battle". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on October 7, 2017. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
9. Leary, Alex (July 10, 2012). "Corrine Brown calls redistricting decision 'seriously flawed'". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
10. "Judge strikes down GOP-drawn Florida congressional lines". July 10, 2014.
11. Cotterell, Bill (August 5, 2014). "Florida elections face uncertainty as congressional maps redrawn". Reuters. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
12. Isenstadt, Alex (August 4, 2014). "CBC, DCCC clash over Fla. redistricting suit". POLITICO.com. POLITICO LLC. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
13. Livingston, Abby (July 11, 2012). "Florida Redistricting Ruling Gets Mixed Reactions From Democrats". Rollcall.com. CQ-Roll Call. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
14. Deslatte, Aaron (August 5, 2014). "Florida Legislature: Don't talk to congressional members, political consultants". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
15. Dixon, Matt (December 2, 2015). "Siding with redistricting plaintiffs, top court upends political landscape". Politico Florida. Retrieved May 18, 2016.

• 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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