| State: | Missouri |
| District Number: | 4 |
| Image Caption: | Interactive map of district boundaries since January 3, 2023 |
| Representative: | Mark Alford |
| Party: | Republican |
| Residence: | Lake Winnebago |
| Population: | 780,184 |
| Population Year: | 2022 |
| Median Income: | $62,213[1] |
| Percent White: | 83.3 |
| Percent Hispanic: | 4.8 |
| Percent Black: | 4.3 |
| Percent Asian: | 1.1 |
| Percent More Than One Race: | 5.4 |
| Percent Other Race: | 1.0 |
| Cpvi: | R+23[2] |
Missouri's 4th congressional district comprises west-central Missouri. It stretches from the northern half of Columbia to the southern and eastern suburbs of Kansas City, including a sliver of Kansas City in Cass County and parts of Blue Springs in Jackson County. It also includes the portion of Columbia north of Interstate 70, home to the University of Missouri (but not the university itself).
The district is predominantly rural and relatively conservative; George W. Bush defeated John Kerry 64% to 35% in the 2004 election and John McCain defeated Barack Obama 61% to 38% in the 2008 election. The district is currently represented by Republican Mark Alford, a former reporter for WDAF-TV, the city's Fox affiliate.
This district had historically been a Democratic Party stronghold. Antipathy to the Republican Party had its origins in the American Civil War and the infamous General Order 11. The Union Army ordered evacuation of the county in an attempt to reduce support for and the power of bushwhacker guerrillas. After the Civil War, there was disfranchisement of white males (mostly Democrats) who had been active for the Confederacy until they took loyalty oaths, or until 1870. The area was filled with conflict between Missouri's Radicals, who joined the Republicans, and Conservatives, who were Democrats. By 1880 former secessionists dominated Missouri's congressional delegation and state legislature.
Gradually this area developed a character similar to yellow dog Democrat districts in the South. Until 2010, only one Republican had been elected here since the Great Depression, and only for one term. However, several demographic trends have converged to erode the Democratic base in this district. First, as the New York Times election maps show, the predominantly rural counties lining the Missouri River have sharply trended Republican between the 2000 Senate election and the 2006 election, following trends across the South.[3]
Secondly, population losses in Kansas City resulted in the 4th gradually losing much of its share of heavily Democratic Jackson County to the Kansas City-based 5th district. Until 1983, the district stretched as far as Independence on Kansas City's eastern border; as late as 1973 it included the eastern portion of Kansas City itself. To compensate for the loss of territory closer to Kansas City, large portions of heavily Republican Southwest Missouri were reassigned from the neighboring 7th district.[4] The result of these trends resulted in a dramatic collapse of Democratic support in the district. Al Gore, John Kerry, and Barack Obama won less than 40% of the vote here. It ultimately presaged Ike Skelton's defeat by Vicky Hartzler in 2010. Since Skelton's defeat, no Democrat has managed even 40 percent of the vote.
Missouri's 4th congressional district includes all of 20 counties and portions of another 4 counties: Barton,Bates, Benton, Boone (parts), Camden (parts), Cass, Cedar, Dade, Dallas, Henry, Hickory, Howard, Jackson (parts), Johnson, Laclede, Lafayette, Morgan, Pettis, Polk, Pulaski, Saline, St. Clair, Vernon, and Webster (parts).[5]
| Year | Office | Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | President | George W. Bush 58 - Al Gore 40% | |
| 2004 | President | George W. Bush 64 - John Kerry 35% | |
| 2008 | President | John McCain 61 - Barack Obama 38% | |
| 2012 | President | Mitt Romney 61 - Barack Obama 36% | |
| 2016 | President | Donald Trump 65 - Hillary Clinton 29% | |
| 2020 | President | Donald Trump 66 - Joe Biden 32% |
| Member | Party | Years | Cong ress | Electoral history | District location | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District created March 4, 1847 | ||||||||
| align=left | Willard P. Hall | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1853 | Elected in 1846. Re-elected in 1848. Re-elected in 1850. Retired.[6] | |||
Mordecai Oliver | Whig | nowrap | March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855 | Elected in 1852. Re-elected in 1854. Retired. | ||||
| Opposition | nowrap | March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857 | ||||||
| align=left | James Craig | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1861 | Elected in 1856. Re-elected in 1858. Retired. | |||
| align=left | Elijah H. Norton | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863 | Elected in 1860. Lost re-election. | |||
| align=left | Sempronius H. Boyd | Unconditional Unionist | nowrap | March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1865 | Elected in 1862. Retired. | |||
| align=left | John R. Kelso | Independent Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1867 | Elected in 1864. Retired. | |||
| align=left | Joseph J. Gravely | Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1869 | Elected in 1866. Retired. | |||
| align=left | Sempronius H. Boyd | Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871 | Elected in 1868. Retired. | |||
| align=left | Harrison E. Havens | Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873 | Elected in 1870. Redistricted to the . | |||
| align=left | Robert A. Hatcher | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1879 | Elected in 1872. Re-elected in 1874. Re-elected in 1876. Retired. | |||
| align=left | Lowndes H. Davis | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1883 | Elected in 1878. Re-elected in 1880. Redistricted to the . | |||
| align=left | James N. Burnes | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1883 – January 23, 1889 | Elected in 1882. Re-elected in 1884. Re-elected in 1886. Re-elected in 1888 but died before term started. | |||
| Vacant | nowrap | January 23, 1889 – February 19, 1889 | ||||||
| align=left | Charles F. Booher | Democratic | nowrap | February 19, 1889 – March 3, 1889 | Elected to finish Burnes's term in the 50th Congress. Retired. | |||
| Vacant | nowrap | March 4, 1889 – December 2, 1889 | ||||||
| align=left | Robert P. C. Wilson | Democratic | nowrap | December 2, 1889 – March 3, 1893 | Elected to finish Burnes's term in the 51st Congress. Re-elected in 1890. Retired. | |||
| align=left | Daniel D. Burnes | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1895 | Elected in 1892. Retired. | |||
| align=left | George C. Crowther | Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897 | Elected in 1894. Lost re-election. | |||
| align=left | Charles F. Cochran | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1905 | Elected in 1896. Re-elected in 1898. Re-elected in 1900. Re-elected in 1902. Withdrew from renomination. | |||
| align=left | Frank B. Fulkerson | Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1905 – March 3, 1907 | Elected in 1904. Lost re-election. | |||
| align=left | Charles F. Booher | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1907 – January 21, 1921 | 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. Retired but died before term ended. | |||
| Vacant | nowrap | January 21, 1921 – March 3, 1921 | ||||||
| align=left | Charles L. Faust | Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1921 – December 17, 1928 | Elected in 1920. Re-elected in 1922. Re-elected in 1924. Re-elected in 1926. Re-elected in 1928 but died before term began. | |||
| Vacant | nowrap | December 17, 1928 – February 5, 1929 | ||||||
| align=left | David W. Hopkins | Republican | nowrap | February 5, 1929 – March 3, 1933 | Elected to finish Faust's term in the 70th Congress. Also elected to start Faust's term in the 71st Congress. Re-elected in 1930. Redistricted to and lost re-election. | |||
| District inactive | nowrap | March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935 | All representatives elected on a general ticket. | |||||
| align=left | C. Jasper Bell | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1949 | Elected in 1934. Re-elected in 1936. Re-elected in 1938. Re-elected in 1940. Re-elected in 1942. Re-elected in 1944. Re-elected in 1946. Retired. | |||
| align=left | Leonard Irving | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953 | Elected in 1948. Re-elected in 1950. Lost re-election. | |||
| align=left | Jeffrey P. Hillelson | Republican | nowrap | January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955 | Elected in 1952. Lost re-election. | 1953–1963 | ||
| align=left | George H. Christopher | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1955 – January 23, 1959 | Elected in 1954. Re-elected in 1956. Re-elected in 1958. Died. | |||
| Vacant | nowrap | January 23, 1959 – March 3, 1959 | ||||||
William J. Randall | Democratic | March 3, 1959 – January 3, 1977 | Elected to finish Christopher's term. Re-elected in 1960. Re-elected in 1962. Re-elected in 1964. Re-elected in 1966. Re-elected in 1968. Re-elected in 1970. Re-elected in 1972. Re-elected in 1974. Retired. | |||||
| 1963–1973 | ||||||||
| 1973–1983 | ||||||||
Ike Skelton | Democratic | January 3, 1977 – January 3, 2011 | Elected in 1976. Re-elected in 1978. Re-elected in 1980. Re-elected in 1982. Re-elected in 1984. Re-elected in 1986. Re-elected in 1988. Re-elected in 1990. Re-elected in 1992. Re-elected in 1994. Re-elected in 1996. Re-elected in 1998. Re-elected in 2000. Re-elected in 2002. Re-elected in 2004. Re-elected in 2006. Re-elected in 2008. Lost re-election. | |||||
| 1983–1993 | ||||||||
| 1993–2003 | ||||||||
| 2003–2013 | ||||||||
Vicky Hartzler | Republican | January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2023 | Elected in 2010. Re-elected in 2012. Re-elected in 2014. Re-elected in 2016. Re-elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020. Retired to run for U.S. senator. | |||||
| 2013–2023 | ||||||||
| align=left | Mark Alford | Republican | January 3, 2023 – present | Elected in 2022. | 2023–present | |||
The table below shows how individual counties in MO-04 voted in the 2008 presidential election. U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) won every single county in MO-04 and swept the district with 60.58 percent of the vote while U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) received 37.87 percent, a 22.71-percent margin of victory for the GOP.
| County | Difference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 74.21 | 24.46 | R + 49.75 | ||
| 69.65 | 28.79 | R + 40.86 | ||
| 67.02 | 31.27 | R + 35.75 | ||
| 66.62 | 31.97 | R + 34.65 | ||
| 66.01 | 32.42 | R + 33.59 | ||
| 65.39 | 33.24 | R + 32.15 | ||
| 63.71 | 34.57 | R + 29.14 | ||
| 63.77 | 34.76 | R + 29.01 | ||
| 63.68 | 34.99 | R + 28.69 | ||
| 63.59 | 35.12 | R + 28.47 | ||
| 62.94 | 36.03 | R + 26.91 | ||
| 60.51 | 38.07 | R + 22.44 | ||
| 60.20 | 37.93 | R + 22.27 | ||
| 60.08 | 38.08 | R + 22.00 | ||
| 59.76 | 37.81 | R + 21.95 | ||
| 59.58 | 38.97 | R + 20.61 | ||
| 59.18 | 39.55 | R + 19.63 | ||
| 58.35 | 39.49 | R + 18.86 | ||
| 56.88 | 41.58 | R + 15.30 | ||
| 55.72 | 42.44 | R + 13.28 | ||
| 55.18 | 42.93 | R + 12.25 | ||
| 54.62 | 43.63 | R + 10.99 | ||
| 50.60 | 47.42 | R + 3.18 | ||
| 50.39 | 47.85 | R + 2.54 |
The table below shows how individual counties in MO-04 voted in the 2008 Missouri Democratic Presidential Primary. Former U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York) swept the district by a convincing margin over U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois). Clinton won every county in the district with the exception of Cole County, home of the State Capitol.
| County | Difference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 68.77 | 26.95 | C + 41.82 | ||
| 67.52 | 26.12 | C + 41.40 | ||
| 67.95 | 27.86 | C + 40.09 | ||
| 65.29 | 30.31 | C + 34.98 | ||
| 63.51 | 30.08 | C + 33.43 | ||
| 63.75 | 32.01 | C + 31.74 | ||
| 63.18 | 32.10 | C + 31.08 | ||
| 63.43 | 32.85 | C + 30.58 | ||
| 63.81 | 33.28 | C + 30.53 | ||
| 61.55 | 31.42 | C + 30.13 | ||
| 62.22 | 33.12 | C + 29.10 | ||
| 62.48 | 33.77 | C + 28.71 | ||
| 62.05 | 33.58 | C + 28.47 | ||
| 60.30 | 33.00 | C + 27.30 | ||
| 61.20 | 34.46 | C + 26.74 | ||
| 60.75 | 35.40 | C + 25.35 | ||
| 60.38 | 36.38 | C + 24.00 | ||
| 59.76 | 36.73 | C + 23.03 | ||
| 57.46 | 37.85 | C + 19.61 | ||
| 57.99 | 38.75 | C + 19.24 | ||
| 56.07 | 39.35 | C + 16.72 | ||
| 54.76 | 41.38 | C + 13.38 | ||
| 53.22 | 43.07 | C + 10.15 | ||
| 45.07 | 51.16 | O + 6.09 |