Washington's 3rd congressional district

Washington's 3rd congressional district
File:WA CD 03-2013.pdf
Current Representative		Jaime Herrera Beutler (R–Camas)
Population (2000)	654,898
Median income	$44,426
Ethnicity	89.8% White, 1.2% Black, 2.6% Asian, 4.6% Hispanic, 1.1% Native American, 0.4% other
Cook PVI	R+4

Washington's 3rd congressional district encompasses the southernmost portion of western and central Washington. It includes the counties of Lewis, Pacific, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat, and a small sliver of southern Thurston county. The 3rd District is represented by Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler.

Established after the 1900 census, the Third District was represented by Democrats for most of the latter half of the 20th century, until Rep. Jolene Unsoeld was defeated by Republican Linda Smith as part of the Republican Revolution of 1994. Smith retired after two terms and was succeeded by Democrat Brian Baird. Baird announced he wouldn't run for reelection in 2010, with Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler winning the now open seat in the 2010 general election 53%-47% against Democratic representative Denny Heck, who was subsequently elected in Washington's 10th congressional district. Herrera Beutler retained her seat 60%-40% over Democrat Jon T. Haugen in 2012. In 2014, she beat Democrat Bob Dingethal by 61.5% to 38.5%.

In presidential elections, the 3rd District is rather competitive. It is the only part of western Washington that didn't swing heavily to the Democrats during the 1990s, and is one of the few districts in the country that cannot be considered safe for either party. It is home to Lewis County, far and away the most conservative county in western Washington. Additionally, most of the district is located in the Portland, Oregon market; voting patterns there are somewhat different than those in the areas closer to Seattle. George W. Bush narrowly carried the district in 2000 with 48% of the vote and again in 2004 with 50%. The district swung Democratic in 2008, giving Barack Obama 52% of the vote and 46% to John McCain. However, redistricting (see below) extended the district further east and made it slightly more Republican than its predecessor; had the current boundaries been in effect for the 2008 election, Obama would have only defeated McCain by 50.9 percent to 47.1 percent. In 2012, it gave Mitt Romney 49.6% to Obama's 47.9%.

The district from 2003 to 2013

Voting

Election results from presidential races
Year	Office	Results
2012	President	Romney 49 - 47%
2008	President	Obama 52 - 46%
2004	President	Bush 50 - 48%
2000	President	Bush 48 - 47%
1996	President	Clinton 49 - 38%
1992	President	Clinton 42 - 33%
1988	President	Dukakis 51 - 47%
1984	President	Reagan 53 - 45%
1980	President	Reagan 50 - 38%
1976	President	Carter 50 - 46%
1972	President	Nixon 58 - 42%
1968	President	Humphrey 52 - 42%
1964	President	Johnson 70 - 30%
1960	President	Kennedy 50 - 50%
1956	President	Eisenhower 52 - 48%
1952	President	Eisenhower 54 - 46%

List of representatives

Representative	Party	Years	District Home	Notes
District created		March 4, 1909
Miles Poindexter	Republican	March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1911
William L. La Follette	Republican	March 4, 1911 – March 4, 1915		Redistricted to the 4th district
75px Albert Johnson	Republican	March 4, 1915 – March 4, 1933		Redistricted from the 2nd district
75px Martin Fernard Smith	Democratic	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1943
Fred B. Norman	Republican	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1945
Charles Raymon Savage	Democratic	January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947
Fred B. Norman	Republican	January 3, 1947 – April 18, 1947		Died
Vacant		April 18, 1947 – July 7, 1947
Russell Vernon Mack	Republican	July 7, 1947 – March 28, 1960		Died
Vacant		March 28, 1960 – November 8, 1960
Julia Butler Hansen	Democratic	November 8, 1960 – December 31, 1974
Vacant		December 31, 1974 – January 3, 1975
Don Leroy Bonker	Democratic	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1989
Jolene Unsoeld	Democratic	January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1995
Linda Smith	Republican	January 3, 1995 – January 3, 1999	Hazel Dell
Brian Baird	Democratic	January 3, 1999 – January 3, 2011	Vancouver
Jaime Herrera Beutler	Republican	January 3, 2011 – present	Camas

Census 2010 Redistricting

The Washington State Redistricting Commission is charged with adjusting congressional and legislative district boundaries after each decennial census. Given Washington State's growth over the previous decade, Washington gained an additional congressional district for the 113th congress. The third district needed to lose 106,894 people in the redistricting process in order to meet the ideal population of 672,454. On September 13, 2011, the four voting commissioners on the Redistricting Commission submitted draft proposals for the congressional map. All four draft proposals left the entirety of Lewis, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, and Clark Counties, and all or most of Skamania county in the 3rd district. In addition, each proposal added population from one or more of Pacific, Thurston, Pierce, or Klickitat counties.

The final approved map for the 3rd district includes the entirety of Klickitat, Skamania, Clark, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Pacific, and Lewis counties, with the extreme southern part of Thurston county south of highway 12, Washington State Route 507, and the Vail Cut Off Road.

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Washington, 2008
• United States House of Representatives elections in Washington, 2010
• United States House of Representatives elections in Washington, 2012
• United States House of Representatives elections in Washington, 2014

References

• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present Their final version was approved and sent to the legislature on January 1, 2012.

External links

• Washington State Redistricting Commission
• Find your new congressional district: a searchable map, Seattle Times, January 13, 2012