CQ Politics | District Detail: GA-13 (original) (raw)

CQ 2008 Election Guide

U.S. House, Georgia - 13th District

Atlanta suburbs -- parts of Clayton, Cobb and Douglas counties

Race Forecast: Safe Democrat

Race Information

• Incumbent: Rep. David Scott, D
• First Elected: 2002 (3rd term)
• Last Elected: 2006 (69.24%)
• Incumbent Status: Running for re-election
• Race Forecast: Safe Democrat

District Information

Politics in America District Profile

Before mid-decade redistricting, the spidery 13th spanned parts of 11 counties circling Atlanta. Since redistricting prior to the 2006 election, the 13th forms a crescent shape that cradles the southwest corner of Atlanta and takes in parts of six counties, including sizable chunks of Cobb and Clayton.

The 13th includes an array of middle-income urban, suburban and rural areas. A significant number of residents commute to Atlanta, where major corporations employ large numbers of district residents. Regional health care providers are large employers in the 13th, as are universities nearby in the 5th (in Fulton County). The 13th is experiencing rapid growth in southern Fulton and eastern Douglas counties where working-class families and retirees are pouring in to once less-populated areas.

Cobb County accounts for about one-third of the district’s population and has a growing black population. Many residents in southern Cobb work in defense-related industries near Marietta, or for Home Depot, which has headquarters in the 13th. South of Atlanta, Clayton County, which also has one-third of the population, suffered with the 2006 closure of a Ford plant in Hapeville (nearby in the 5th), and expects job loss from the 2005 BRAC round’s closure of Fort Gillem. Many of the commuters from Clayton still rely on transportation and warehousing sectors around the busy Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (in the 5th).

Minorities make up more than half of the 13th’s population, although whites form a plurality, and the district is dependably Democratic. Republicans have some success in eastern Douglas, but John Kerry would have won 61 percent of the new 13th’s 2004 presidential vote.

Major Industry

Distribution, aerospace, health care, services

Military Bases

Fort Gillem (Army), 398 military, 1,796 civilian (2004)

Cities

Smyrna (pt.), 38,195; Mableton (unincorporated), 29,733

notable

Jonesboro was the setting for Tara, the plantation in Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone With the Wind.”

Demographics (2000 census)

Population: 629,732

Under 18: 28%

Over 65: 7%

Married: 50.0%

Non-Hispanic White: 42%

Black: 41%

Hispanic: 10%

Asian: 5%

Foreign Born: 13.8%

Language other than English: 17.9%

Median Household Income: 43,429

Owner Occupied Housing: 59%

Income above $200k: 1

Workforce/Education (2000 census)

White Collar: 55.9%

Blue Collar: 29.8%

Services: 14.3%

Bachelor's Degree: 19%

Graduate Education: 5.5%

Civilian Veterans: 55,985

District Election History

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Campaign Finance Details for the 2008 Race