Until the 1970s, the 7th district comprised the northern half of the Shenandoah Valley, now part of the strongly Republican sixth district. After the 1970 census, it lost most of the Valley except for Winchester, while picking up Manassas and Fredericksburg, thus stretching from the fringes of the Washington, D.C. suburbs to Charlottesville. This iteration of the 7th was one of the first areas of Virginia to shake off its Solid South roots. The area's Democrats started splitting their tickets as early as the 1930s. The Republicans took the seat in 1970, and held it without much difficulty until 1993.
The district's current configuration dates from 1993, when Virginia was forced to create a majority-minority district by a Justice Department directive. At that time, most of Richmond, which had been entirely in the old 3rd district for over a century, was shifted to a newly created 3rd district. The remaining territory in the old 3rd was combined with some more rural areas to the north to form the new 7th district.
From 2013 to 2017, the 7th district stretched from the west end of Richmond through the wealthier portions of Henrico and Chesterfield counties before taking in all of Goochland, Hanover, Louisa, New Kent, Orange, Culpeper, Page and Rappahannock counties and a portion of Spotsylvania County. In 2016, the adjacent 3rd district was found unconstitutional, leading to court-ordered redistricting which changed the 7th district for the 2016 elections.[5][6]
According to the United States Census Bureau's 2017 data for Virginia's 7th Congressional District, the total population of the district is 790,084. Median age for the district is 39.7 years. 65.5% of the district is Non-Hispanic White, 18.4% Black, 5.1% Asian, 0.3% Native American or Alaskan, and 3.4% some other race with 7.3% Hispanic or Latino. Owner-occupied housing is 73.0% and renter-occupied housing is 27.0%.[8] The median value of single-family owner-occupied homes is $266,500. 91.6% of the district population has at least a high school diploma, 40.4% at least a bachelor's degree or higher. 9.1% of the district are civilian veterans. 9.1% are foreign born and 11.9% speak a language other than English at home. 9.9% are of disability status.[9] 68.2% of the district is in the labor force, which consists of those 16 years and older. Mean travel time to work is 29.3 minutes. Median household income is $77,533. Per capita income is $37,567. 5.3% of the population account for families living below the poverty level, and 7.7% of individuals live below the poverty level.[10] 9.5% of Children live below the poverty line.[11]
Recent election results
2000s
2000 Virginia's 7th congressional district election[12]
The Virginia Seventh District started in 1788 covering the counties of Essex, Richmond, Westmoreland, Northumberland, Lancaster, Gloucester, Middlesex, King and Queen, King William and Caroline.[57]
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