South Carolina's 7th congressional district

The 7th Congressional District of South Carolina is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in South Carolina, established in 2011 following apportionment of another seat to the state following the 2010 census. It includes all of Chesterfield, Dillon, Georgetown, Horry, Marlboro and Marion counties and parts of Florence county. The first US representative from this new district, Tom Rice, was elected in 2012 and took office on January 3, 2013.

History

The 7th Congressional District of South Carolina existed in the 19th century but it was eliminated in 1853 as a result of the 1850 Census. After the 1880 Census, Congress apportioned the state another seat, and the state legislature re-established the district.

By that time, the Reconstruction era had ended and the state legislature was controlled by Democrats, who wrested control by a mixture of violence and fraud. They defined the boundaries of the 7th district, which was called the "shoestring district" because of its long, narrow shape that included many black precincts. In 1892 and 1894 the majority-black voters of the district elected George W. Murray to Congress; he was the only African American to serve in Congress in those sessions and, following disfranchisement and demographic changes, the last elected from the state until Jim Clyburn in 1992.

In 1895, the Democrat-dominated state legislature passed a new constitution, disfranchising black voters by changes to voter registration and electoral rules that were applied against them in a discriminatory way. For decades after 1896, only white Democrats were elected to Congress from the state. (Such disfranchisement occurred among all the states of the former Confederacy, and their use of poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and white primaries survived several US Supreme Court challenges.)

During the first half of the 20th century, 6.5 million blacks in total left South Carolina and other southern states in the Great Migration to the North, Midwest and West. Following cumulative declines in state population, after the 1930 Census, South Carolina lost a seat and the 7th district was eliminated in redistricting. It was last represented by Democrat Hampton P. Fulmer, who was redistricted into the 2nd District.

South Carolina had only six districts for the next 80 years. African Americans were effectively barred from voting until after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Increases in population led to the state's receiving another congressional seat following the 2010 Census.

The 7th district is located in the rapidly developing area of northeastern South Carolina, including the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area (the Grand Strand) and the Pee Dee region.^[1][2] It is a white-majority district and its voters elected Republican Tom Rice as US Representative from the district in 2012; he took office in January 2013, when the 113th Congress convened. Due almost entirely to the presence of heavily Republican Horry County, which has as many people as the rest of the district combined, it tilts Republican.

The district boundaries are roughly similar to the configuration of the 6th congressional district before it was reconfigured after the 1990 census as a black-majority district.

List of representatives

Name	Tenure	Party	Electoral history
District created in 1803
Thomas Moore	March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1813	Democratic- Republican	Redistricted from the 6th district
Elias Earle	March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1815	Democratic- Republican	Redistricted from the 8th district
John Taylor	March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817	Democratic- Republican	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Elias Earle	March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1821	Democratic- Republican	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
John Wilson	March 4, 1821 – March 3, 1823	Democratic- Republican	Redistricted to the 6th district
Joseph Gist	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	Jackson Republican	Redistricted from the 8th district
	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1827	Jacksonian
William T. Nuckolls	March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1833	Jacksonian	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
William K. Clowney	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835	Nullifier	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
James Rogers	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837	Jacksonian	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
William K. Clowney	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1839	Nullifier	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
James Rogers	March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1843	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Robert B. Rhett	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1849	Democratic	Redistricted from the 2nd district
William F. Colcock	March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1853	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
District eliminated in 1853
District re-established in 1883
Edmund W.M. Mackey	March 4, 1883 – January 27, 1884	Republican	Redistricted from the 2nd district Died
Robert Smalls	March 18, 1884 – March 3, 1887	Republican	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
William Elliott	March 4, 1887 – September 23, 1890	Democratic	Lost contested election
Thomas E. Miller	September 24, 1890 – March 3, 1891	Republican	Won contested election
William Elliott	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1893	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
George W. Murray	March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1895	Republican	Won contested election of 1894, finally seated in 1896
J. William Stokes	March 4, 1895 – June 1, 1896	Democratic	Seat declared vacant while being contested because of Democratic election fraud
	November 3, 1896 – July 6, 1901	Died
Asbury F. Lever	November 5, 1901 – August 1, 1919	Democratic	Resigned to become member of Federal Farm Loan Board
Edward C. Mann	October 7, 1919 – March 3, 1921	Democratic	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Hampton P. Fulmer	March 4, 1921 – March 3, 1933	Democratic	Redistricted to the 2nd district
District eliminated in 1933
District re-established in 2013
Tom Rice	January 3, 2013 – Present	Republican	Incumbent

References

• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. 
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. 
• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

Coordinates: 34°07′N 79°21′W / 34.11°N 79.35°W / 34.11; -79.35