Alabama's 7th congressional district

Infobox U.S. congressional district
state = Alabama
district number = 7


image width =300
image caption =
representative = Artur Davis
party = Democratic
english area =8,780
metric area =
percent urban = 72.2

percent rural = 27.8
population = 635,300
population year = 2000
median income = 26,672
percent white = 35.5
percent black = 61.7
percent asian = 0.6
percent native american = 0.2
percent hispanic = 1.3
percent other race = 0.7
percent blue collar = 28.6
percent white collar = 53.4
percent gray collar = 18
cpvi = D+17

Alabama's Seventh Congressional District is a U.S. congressional district in Alabama, which elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. The district encompasses the counties of Greene, Choctaw, Sumter, Marengo, Dallas, Wilcox, Perry and Hale. It also includes parts of Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Clarke, and Pickens counties.

It is currently represented by Democrat Artur Davis.

Character

The 7th district was created as a black-majority district in 1992. It includes Black Belt counties where the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers flow past old plantations, as well as the home of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Of highly irregular shape, the 7th district gerrymanders into the predominantly-black western section of Jefferson County and Birmingham's inner neighborhoods.

The 7th district represents an economic dichotomy boasting some of the largest pockets of prosperity in the state of Alabama along with some of the largest pockets of poverty in the developed world. Birmingham is home to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center, the region's largest employer. Mercedes-Benz located its first North American plant in Tuscaloosa County and manufactures its M-class SUV there. Such prosperity however is anything but uniform across the district.

Nine of the 12 counties in the 7th District are in Alabama's Black Belt, a rural expanse in Alabama and former home to the state's once-flourishing cotton plantations. Race politics remain important in the district, and, as the district heavily favors the Democratic party, its representation is largely decided in the party's primary election. George W. Bush won 35% of the vote in this district in 2004.

Representation