Georgia's 9th congressional district | |
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Representative | |
Distribution |
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Population (2023) | 810,092[2] |
Median household income | $75,543[3] |
Ethnicity |
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Cook PVI | R+22[4] |
Georgia's 9th congressional district is a congressional district in the north of the U.S. state of Georgia. The district is represented by Republican Andrew Clyde, who succeeded fellow Republican Doug Collins.[5] The district is mostly rural and exurban in character, though it stretches into Hall (home to the district's largest city, Gainesville) and Gwinnett counties on Atlanta's northern fringe.
The district has a heavy Republican lean. Donald Trump carried the district with almost 78 percent of the vote in 2016, his fourth-best showing in the nation. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+22, it is one of the most Republican districts in Georgia.[4] The district swung rapidly into the Republican column after then-congressman and future governor Nathan Deal switched parties in 1995. Since then, no Democrat running in the district has crossed the 40 percent mark, and only one Democrat has won as much as 30 percent.
Republicans are no less dominant at the state and local level. It was one of the first areas of Georgia where old-line Southern Democrats began splitting their tickets. Despite this, even as the district turned increasingly Republican at the national level (Jimmy Carter is the only Democratic presidential candidate to carry the district since 1960), conservative Democrats still held most local offices well into the 1990s. However, after Deal's party switch, Republicans gradually eroded the Democratic advantage, with the help of other party switchers. By the early 21st century, there were almost no elected Democrats left above the county level.
Much of this district was the 10th district from 2003 to 2007; it became the 9th once again in a mid-decade redistricting.
Four-term Republican Doug Collins announced in January 2020 that he would run for U.S. senator.[6] Collins placed third in the race, behind incumbent Kelly Loeffler and her Democratic opponent Raphael Warnock.