South Carolina's 5th congressional district


The 5th congressional district of South Carolina is a congressional district in northern South Carolina bordering North Carolina. The district includes all of Cherokee, Chester, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lancaster, Lee, Union and York counties and parts of Newberry, Spartanburg and Sumter counties. Outside the rapidly growing cities of Rock Hill, Fort Mill, and Lake Wylie the district is mostly rural and agricultural. The district borders were contracted from some of the easternmost counties in the 2012 redistricting.
The district's character is very similar to other mostly rural districts in the South. Democrats still hold most offices outside Republican-dominated York County. However, few of the area's Democrats can be described as liberal by national standards; most are fairly conservative on social issues, but less so on economics. The largest blocs of Republican voters are in the fast-growing suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina and Cherokee County, which shares the Republican tilt of most of the rest of the Upstate. York County is by far the largest county in the district, with almost one-third of its population, and its Republican bent has pushed the district as a whole into the Republican column in recent years.
In November 2010, the Republican Mick Mulvaney defeated longtime Congressman John Spratt and became the first Republican since Robert Smalls and the end of Reconstruction to represent the district. Following Mulvaney's confirmation as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, a special election was held in 2017 to determine his successor. Republican Ralph Norman narrowly won the special election against Archie Parnell.

History

From 2003 to 2013 the district included all of Cherokee, Chester, Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lancaster, Marlboro, Newberry and York counties and parts of Florence, Lee and Sumter counties.

Election results from presidential races

List of members representing the district

Historical district boundaries

Election results

2017 special

In popular culture