Indiana's 8th congressional district

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Indiana's 8th congressional district
Map of Indiana's Eighth Congressional District
Current Representative		Brad Ellsworth (D)
Area	7,041.64 mi² (18,237.85 km²)
Population (2000)	675,564
Median income	$36,732
Ethnicity	94.2% White, 3.7% Black, 0.6% Asian, 0.9% Hispanic, 0.2% Native American, 0.3% other
Cook PVI	R+8

United States House of Representatives, Indiana District 8 is a district of the United States Congress in southwestern and west central Indiana. Based in Evansville, it was widened when Indiana lost a seat after the 2000 Census to include much of the former 5th and 7th Districts. At that time, Bloomington (the home of former representative Frank McCloskey) was moved into the 9th District, while the 8th was extended northward to include much of the former 7th district in west-central Indiana, including Terre Haute. As a result of this expansion, the district is the largest in area in Indiana with all or part of 18 Indiana Counties.

Contents 1 Counties located in Indiana's 8th Congressional District 1.1 Cities of 10,000 or more people 1.2 5,000 - 10,000 people 2 History 3 Representative 3.1 2006 3.2 2008 4 Neighboring Districts 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Counties located in Indiana's 8th Congressional District

# County	# County	# County	# County	# County	# County
11 Clay Brazil 26,556	14 Daviess Washington 30,726	23 Fountain* Covington 17,954	26 Gibson Princeton 39,750	28 Greene Bloomfield 33,750	42 Knox Vincennes 38,920
51 Martin Shoals 10,370	60 Owen Spencer 21,790	61 Parke Rockville 17,250	63 Pike Petersburg 12,840	65 Posey Mt. Vernon 27,500	67 Putnam Greencastle 36,020
77 Sullivan Sullivan 21,750	82 Vanderburgh Evansville 191,220	83 Vermillion Newport 16,790	84 Vigo Terre Haute 105,900	86 Warren Williamsport 8,500	87 Warrick Boonville 59,700

• 23 Fountain County exists in both the 4th Congressional District and 8th Congressional District. Inside the 8th District, are the townships of Davis, Fulton, Logan, Millcreek, Richland, Troy, and Wabash.

[edit] Cities of 10,000 or more people

(2007 Estimate)

• Greencastle - Estimated around 10,100
• Princeton - Estimated around 10,700
• Washington - 11,700
• Vincennes - 21,500
• Terre Haute - 53,100
• Evansville - 131,500

[edit] 5,000 - 10,000 people

(2007 Estimate)

• Fort Branch - 5,015
• Newburgh - 5,475
• North Terre Haute - 5,025
• Clinton - 5,128
• Sullivan - 5,000
• Boonville - 6,125
• Linton - 5,770
• Mt. Vernon - 7,478
• Brazil - 8,041

[edit] History

The district has been nicknamed the "Bloody Eighth" because of a series of hard-fought tight campaigns and political reversals.^[1] It ousted six incumbents from 1966 to 1982. The election in 1984 was so close that it was decided in Congress.

In 2000, a New York Times reporter said of the district: "With a populist streak and a conservative bent, this district does not cotton to country-club Republicans or to social-engineering liberals," and also said "More than 95 percent white and about 41 percent rural, the region shares much of the flavor of the Bible Belt."^[2]

[edit] Representative

It is currently represented by Brad Ellsworth, a conservative Democrat. As a result of Ellsworth's landslide defeat of 12-year incumbent John Hostettler, it was the first district picked up by the Democrats on election night, 2006.^[3]

[edit] 2006

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Brad Ellsworth	128,765	61.1%
	Republican	John Hostettler (incumbent)	82,271	38.9%
Turnout			211,036
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing

[edit] 2008

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Brad Ellsworth (incumbent)	188,693	64.7%
	Republican	Greg Goode	102,769	35.3%
Turnout			291,462	60%
	Democratic hold		Swing

[edit] Neighboring Districts

• 1st District
• 4th District
• 9th District

[edit] See also

• Brad Ellsworth
• John Hostettler
• Frank McCloskey
• H. Joel Deckard
• Rick McIntyre

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Congressman Brad Ellsworth Official House site

v • d • e Indiana's congressional districts All districts: Territory At-large 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 The At-large and 10th through 13th districts are obsolete See also: Indiana's past & present Representatives, Senators, and Delegations, 2008 elections All U.S. districts – Apportionment – Redistricting – Gerrymandering – Maps