Alabama's 7th congressional district

Character

Alabama's 7th congressional district was first defined in 1843; it has continued since then with the exception of the years 1867–1873 during the Reconstruction era. The geographic area represented by this district has changed over time, depending upon the number of U.S. Representatives apportioned to Alabama. Around the turn of the 20th century, the district included the city of Gadsden. Over time, the district was redefined to include the area around Tuscaloosa. The last two representatives for the district before its reconfiguration as a majority-minority area were Richard Shelby and Claude Harris, both Tuscaloosa residents.

The shape of the current district was largely established in 1992, when it was reconstituted as a majority-minority district under provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended in 1982 to encourage greater representation for minorities in Congress. Half of the western Alabama portion of the district was moved to the 4th district, and a large portion of Tuscaloosa County was moved into the 6th district, which had primarily been based around Birmingham. To counter the loss in population and to create the majority-minority, many counties from the Black Belt region, a rural expanse in Alabama with a high proportion of African-American residents descended from workers on cotton plantations, were added to the district, as was an arm extending from Tuscaloosa roughly along the Interstate 20/59 corridor into Jefferson County to take in most of the black precincts of Birmingham. Most of Birmingham's white residents remained in the 6th district. The three representatives elected from the district following reconfiguration—Earl F. Hilliard, Artur Davis, and Terri Sewell—have all been residents of Birmingham.

Mostly minor changes in the following two redistrictings have not substantially changed the shape of the district. But, western portions of Montgomery County have been restored to this district, including large swaths of inner-city Montgomery in the redistricting following the 2010 census. This area had earlier been removed after the 2000 census. The district contains urbanized areas of Birmingham, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa, and ten of the fourteen rural counties in the Black Belt. Three of the state's largest colleges are located in the district: Alabama State University in Montgomery, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Alabama's 7th Congressional district is a good example of a state that has experienced partisan gerrymandering over the last decade. In the 2010 redistricting cycle, Republicans drew district lines to pack together several major Democratic communities into a single district, ensuring that Democrats were only elected to one seat. Alabama's District 7 reaches into several other districts' regions to pick out Democratic voters. The 7th district is the most gerrymandered in the state.

Democrats have represented the 7th district in all but 6 years since 1843.

Counties and communities

For the 119th and successive Congresses (based on the districts drawn following the Supreme Court's decision in Allen v. Milligan), the district contains all or portions of the following counties and communities.

Choctaw County (8)

: All eight communities

Clarke County (6)

: Coffeeville, Fulton, Grove Hill, Jackson (part; also 2nd), Thomasville, Whatley

Dallas County (4)

: All four communities

Greene County (4)

: All four communities

Hale County (4)

: All four communities

Jefferson County (32)

: Adamsville, Bessemer, Birmingham (part; also 6th), Brighton, Brookside, Cardiff, Center Point (part; also 6th), Concord, Edgewater, Fairfield, Forestdale, Fultondale (part; also 6th), Graysville (part; also 6th), Helena (part; also 6th; shared with Shelby County), Homewood (part; also 6th), Hoover (part; also 6th; shared with Shelby County), Hueytown, Irondale (part; also 6th), Lake View (shared with Tuscaloosa County), Lipscomb, Maytown, McCalla, McDonald Chapel, Midfield, Minor, Mulga, North Johns, Pleasant Grove, Rock Creek, Sylvan Springs, Tarrant, West Jefferson

Lowndes County (7)

: All seven communities

Marengo County (10)

: All 10 communities

Perry County (2)

: Marion, Uniontown

Pickens County (9)

: All nine communities

Sumter County (9)

: All nine communities

Tuscaloosa County (9)

: Brookwood, Coaling, Cottondale, Holt (part; also 4th), Lake View (shared with Jefferson County), Moundville (shared with Hale County), Tuscaloosa (part; also 4th), Vance (part; also 6th; shared with Bibb County), Woodstock (part; also 6th; shared with Bibb County)

Wilcox County (7)

: All seven communities

Recent election results from statewide races

The following chart shows the results of recent federal and statewide races in the 7th district.

List of members representing the district

Recent election results

These are the results from the previous twelve election cycles in Alabama's 7th district.

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

2024

References

;Specific

;General

• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

References

1. "Congressional Districts {{pipe".
2. "My Congressional District".
3. "My Congressional District".
4. (April 3, 2025). "2025 Cook PVI℠: District Map and List (119th Congress)".
5. Pear, Robert. (August 3, 1992). "THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Congressional Districts; Redistricting Expected to Bring Surge in Minority Lawmakers". The New York Times.
6. Anderton, Kevin. "Middle School Students Solve The Issue Of Gerrymandering And Win $10,000 Prize [Infographic]".
7. [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/cd119/cd_based/ST01/CD119_AL01.pdf https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/cd119/cd_based/ST01/CD119_AL07.pdf]
8. "Alabama".
9. "AL - District 07".