| State: | Tennessee |
| District Number: | 5 |
| Image Caption: | Interactive map of district boundaries since January 3, 2023 |
| Representative: | Andy Ogles |
| Party: | Republican |
| Residence: | Columbia |
| Distribution Ref: | [1] |
| Percent Urban: | 88.68 |
| Percent Rural: | 11.32 |
| Population: | 784,695[2] [3] |
| Population Year: | 2022 |
| Median Income: | $86,017[4] |
| Percent White: | 69.2 |
| Percent Hispanic: | 10.3 |
| Percent Black: | 11.8 |
| Percent Asian: | 4.2 |
| Percent More Than One Race: | 3.9 |
| Percent Other Race: | 0.6 |
| Cpvi: | R+9[5] |
The 5th congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district in Middle Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican Andy Ogles since January 2023.
In the past, the fifth district has been nearly synonymous with Tennessee's capital city, Nashville, as the district has almost always been centered on Nashville throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. The city is a center for the music, healthcare, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home to numerous colleges and universities (its old nickname was "the Athens of the South"). It is also home to the Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, earning it the nickname "Music City".[6]
Since the 2022 election cycle, there is no longer a congressional district centered on the city of Nashville itself. Democrat Jim Cooper, the prior holder of the office, alleged that the district was gerrymandered to favor Republican candidates.[7] Prior to the 2020 House Redistricting Cycle, the district contained the entirety of Davidson County (which is coterminous with Nashville), making it a safe seat for the Democratic Party. Following redistricting, Nashville was split into 3 separate districts, effectively diluting the city's heavily Democratic voter base into the surrounding suburban and rural counties, which lean strongly Republican.
As of the 2020 United States redistricting cycle, the 5th District comprises a southern portion of Davidson County; portions of Wilson and Williamson Counties; and the entirety of Maury, Lewis, and Marshall Counties.[8]
Results under new lines (2023-present)
Election results from presidential and statewide races under current lines:
| Year | Office | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | President | Donald Trump 55.6% - Hillary Clinton 38.5% | |
| 2018 | Governor | Bill Lee 54.2% - Karl Dean 42.8% | |
| 2018 | Senate | Marsha Blackburn 54.7% - Phil Bredesen 43.9% | |
| 2020 | President | Donald Trump 54.5% - Joe Biden 43.2% | |
| 2020 | Senate | Bill Hagerty 57.6% - Marquita Bradshaw 39.8% | |
| 2022 | Governor | Bill Lee 58.4% - Jason Martin 40.1% |
| Year | Office | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | President | Barack Obama 56% - Mitt Romney 42.5% | |
| 2016 | President | Hillary Clinton 56.5% - Donald Trump 38.2% | |
| 2020 | President | Joe Biden 60.3% - Donald Trump 36.7% |
| Year | Office | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | President | Al Gore 57% - George W. Bush 42% | |
| 2004 | President | John Kerry 52% - George W. Bush 48% | |
| 2008 | President | Barack Obama 57.5% - John McCain 41.3% |
Following the 1950 census, Tennessee expanded briefly to ten districts. Even though it has since contracted back to nine districts, that marked the beginning of the continuous period where the 5th district was centered on Davidson County/Nashville.[9]
From 1941 to 1957, Nashville was represented by J. Percy Priest, who was the House majority whip in the 81st and 82nd Congresses. A dam in eastern Davidson County and the lake formed by the dam are both named in his memory.
Priest died just before the Election of 1956,[10] and the Democrats turned to Carlton Loser. Loser won that election, and then to two more Congresses after that. Loser appeared to win another Democratic nomination in 1962, but his primary came under investigation for voter fraud, and a court ordered a new election. In this new election, Loser was defeated by former state senator Richard Fulton.[11]
Richard "Dick" Fulton represented the 5th from 1963 until August 1975, when he retired from Congress to become the second mayor of metropolitan Nashville. Following the 1970 census, while Fulton was representing the district, Tennessee briefly contracted to eight congressional districts. During the 1970s, the district encompassed Davidson, Cheatham, and Robertson counties. This contraction of congressional districts forced the first time in thirty years that Davidson County was not the sole county in the district. (The fifth was only Davidson County from 1943 to 1972.)[9]
Once Fulton was Nashville's mayor, he was succeeded in Congress by former state senator Clifford Allen. Allen served for only a term and a half (November 1975 - June 1978) before he died in office due to complications from a heart attack suffered a month earlier.[12]
In the election of 1978, the fifth district selected state senator Bill Boner. He served in Congress for ten years, and then succeeded Fulton as mayor of Nashville. Boner was succeeded in 1988 by Bob Clement, former president of Cumberland University and son of the former governor Frank G. Clement. Clement served seven terms in Congress, where he represented Davidson and Robertson counties. He was one of the 81 Democratic congressmen who voted for the Iraq Resolution of 2002.[13]
Clement did not run for re-election in 2002, as he was running for the open U.S. Senate seat left by retiring Fred Thompson. He won the Democratic nomination easily, but was defeated in the general election by former governor Lamar Alexander.[14] Clement was succeeded in Congress by Jim Cooper, who, like Clement, was also the son of a former governor. Cooper is considered a blue dog Democrat. According to On The Issues, he is deemed "moderate", but is slightly to the left of the political center.[15] After the 2020 United States redistricting cycle moved the 5th district to the Republican-leaning suburbs to the south of Nashville, Cooper announced that he would not run again in 2022.[16] He was succeeded in Congress by Andy Ogles, the former mayor of Maury County.
| Member | Party | Years | Cong ress | Electoral history | District location | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District formatting March 4, 1813 | ||||||||
| align=left | Felix Grundy | Democratic-Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1813 – July 1814 | Redistricted from the and re-elected in 1813. Resigned. | 1813–1823 Bedford, Davidson, Lincoln, Rutherford, and Williamson counties | ||
| Vacant | nowrap | July 1814 – September 16, 1814 | ||||||
| align=left | Newton Cannon | Democratic-Republican | nowrap | September 16, 1814 – March 3, 1817 | Elected to finish Grundy's term. Re-elected in 1815. Lost re-election. | |||
| align=left | Thomas Claiborne | Democratic-Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1819 | Elected in 1817. Retired. | |||
| align=left | Newton Cannon | Democratic-Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1823 | Elected in 1819. Re-elected in 1821. Retired. | |||
| Robert Allen | Democratic-Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825 | Redistricted from the and re-elected in 1823. Re-elected in 1825. Retired. | 1823–1833 Smith, Sumner, and Wilson counties | |||
| Jacksonian | nowrap | March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1827 | ||||||
| align=left | Robert Desha | Jacksonian | nowrap | March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1831 | Elected in 1827. Re-elected in 1829. Retired. | |||
| align=left | William Hall | Jacksonian | nowrap | March 4, 1831 – March 3, 1833 | Elected in 1831. Retired. | |||
| John B. Forester | Jacksonian | nowrap | March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835 | Elected in 1833. Re-elected in 1835. Retired. | 1833–1843 | |||
| Anti-Jacksonian | nowrap | March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837 | ||||||
| align=left | Hopkins L. Turney | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843 | Elected in 1837. Re-elected in 1839. Re-elected in 1841. Retired. | |||
| align=left | George Washington Jones | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1853 | Elected in 1843. Re-elected in 1845. Re-elected in 1847. Re-elected in 1849. Re-elected in 1851. Redistricted to the . | 1843–1853 | ||
Charles Ready | Whig | nowrap | March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855 | Elected in 1853. Re-elected in 1855. Re-elected in 1857. Lost re-election. | 1853–1861 | |||
| Know Nothing | nowrap | March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1859 | ||||||
| align=left | Robert H. Hatton | Opposition | nowrap | March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861 | Elected in 1859. Retired to join the Confederate Army. | |||
| District inactive | nowrap | March 3, 1861 – July 24, 1866 | Civil War and Reconstruction | |||||
| align=left | William B. Campbell | National Union | nowrap | July 24, 1866 – March 3, 1867 | Elected in 1865. Retired. | 1866–1873 | ||
| align=left | John Trimble | Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1869 | Elected in 1867. Retired. | |||
| align=left | William F. Prosser | Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871 | Elected in 1868. Lost re-election. | |||
| align=left | Edward I. Golladay | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873 | Elected in 1870. Lost re-election. | |||
| align=left | Horace Harrison | Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875 | Elected in 1872. Redistricted to the and lost re-election. | 1873–1883 | ||
| align=left | John M. Bright | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1881 | Redistricted from the and re-elected in 1874. Re-elected in 1876. Re-elected in 1878. Lost re-election as an Independent Democrat. | |||
Richard Warner | Democratic | March 4, 1881 – March 3, 1885 | Elected in 1880. Re-elected in 1882. Lost renomination. | |||||
| 1883–1893 | ||||||||
James D. Richardson | Democratic | March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1905 | Elected in 1884. Re-elected in 1886. Re-elected in 1888. Re-elected in 1890. Re-elected in 1892. Re-elected in 1894. Re-elected in 1896. Re-elected in 1898. Re-elected in 1900. Re-elected in 1902. Retired. | |||||
| 1893–1903 | ||||||||
| 1903–1913 | ||||||||
William C. Houston | Democratic | March 4, 1905 – March 3, 1919 | Elected in 1904. Re-elected in 1906. Re-elected in 1908. Re-elected in 1910. Re-elected in 1912. Re-elected in 1914. Re-elected in 1916. Retired. | |||||
| 1913–1923 | ||||||||
Ewin L. Davis | Democratic | March 4, 1919 – March 3, 1933 | Elected in 1918. Re-elected in 1920. Re-elected in 1922. Re-elected in 1924. Re-elected in 1926. Re-elected in 1928. Re-elected in 1930. Lost renomination. | |||||
| 1923–1933 | ||||||||
| align=left | Jo Byrns | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1933 – June 4, 1936 | Redistricted from the and re-elected in 1932. Re-elected in 1934. Died. | 1933–1943 | ||
| Vacant | nowrap | June 4, 1936 – January 3, 1937 | ||||||
| align=left | Richard M. Atkinson | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1939 | Elected in 1936. Lost renomination. | |||
| align=left | Jo Byrns Jr. | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1941 | Elected in 1938. Lost re-election. | |||
| align=left | Percy Priest | Independent Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943 | Elected in 1940. Redistricted to the . | |||
| align=left | Jim Nance McCord | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1945 | Elected in 1942. Retired to run for Governor of Tennessee. | 1943–1953 | ||
| align=left | Harold Earthman | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947 | Elected in 1944. Lost renomination. | |||
| align=left | Joe L. Evins | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1953 | Elected in 1946. Re-elected in 1948. Re-elected in 1950. Redistricted to the . | |||
| align=left | Percy Priest | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1953 – October 12, 1956 | Redistricted from the and re-elected in 1952. Re-elected in 1954. Died. | 1953–1963 | ||
| Vacant | nowrap | October 12, 1956 – January 3, 1957 | ||||||
| align=left | J. Carlton Loser | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1957 – January 3, 1963 | Elected in 1956. Re-elected in 1958. Re-elected in 1960. Lost renomination. | |||
Richard Fulton | Democratic | January 3, 1963 – August 14, 1975 | 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. Resigned to become Mayor of Nashville. | 1963–1973 | ||||
| 1973–1983 Cheatham, Davidson, and Robertson counties. | ||||||||
| Vacant | nowrap | August 14, 1975 – November 25, 1975 | ||||||
| align=left | Clifford Allen | Democratic | nowrap | November 25, 1975 – June 18, 1978 | Elected to finish Fulton's term. Re-elected in 1976. Died. | |||
| Vacant | nowrap | June 18, 1978 – January 3, 1979 | ||||||
Bill Boner | Democratic | January 3, 1979 – October 5, 1987 | Elected in 1978. Re-elected in 1980. Re-elected in 1982. Re-elected in 1984. Re-elected in 1986. Resigned to become Mayor of Nashville. | |||||
| 1983–1993 Davidson and Robertson counties. | ||||||||
| Vacant | nowrap | October 5, 1987 – January 19, 1988 | ||||||
Bob Clement | Democratic | January 19, 1988 – January 3, 2003 | Elected to finish Boner's term. 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. Retired to run for U.S. senator. | |||||
| 1993–2003 Davidson and Robertson counties. | ||||||||
Jim Cooper | Democratic | January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2023 | Elected in 2002. Re-elected in 2004. Re-elected in 2006. Re-elected in 2008. Re-elected in 2010. Re-elected in 2012. Re-elected in 2014. Re-elected in 2016. Re-elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020. Retired. | 2003–2013 Cheatham, Davidson, and Wilson counties. | ||||
| 2013–2023 Cheatham, Davidson, and Dickson counties. | ||||||||
| align=left | Andy Ogles | Republican | January 3, 2023 – present | 118th | Elected in 2022. | 2023–present Davidson, Lewis, Marshall, Maury, Williamson, and Wilson counties. | ||