Kentucky's 4th congressional district is a

congressional district Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. Located in the northeastern portion of the state, it is a long district that follows the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...

. However, the district is dominated by its far western portion, comprising the eastern suburbs of

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

and

Northern Kentucky Northern Kentucky is the third-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky after Louisville and Lexington, and its cities and towns serve as the de facto "south side" communities of Cincinnati, Ohio. The three main counties ...

, the Kentucky side of the

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

area. The majority of voters live in the booming

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

an Cincinnati counties of Boone, Kenton, and Campbell, which includes such suburbs as Fort Mitchell, Covington,

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, Newport, and Fort Thomas. The next-largest population center is the eastern suburbs of Louisville (including a small portion of Louisville itself). It also serves the far western suburbs of

Lexington Lexington may refer to: Places England * Laxton, Nottinghamshire, formerly Lexington Canada * Lexington, a district in Waterloo, Ontario United States * Lexington, Kentucky, the largest city with this name * Lexington, Massachusetts, the oldes ...

. The district is currently represented by

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Thomas Massie Thomas Harold Massie (born January 13, 1971) is an American politician and businessman. A member of the Republican Party, Massie has been the United States representative for Kentucky's 4th congressional district since 2012, when he defeated Bi ...

, who was elected in a special election in 2012 to succeed

Geoff Davis Geoffrey Clark Davis (born October 26, 1958) is an American businessman, politician and former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2005 to 2012. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes 24 counties in the northeastern par ...

, who resigned on July 31, 2012, citing family concerns.

Characteristics

The 4th was one of the first areas of Kentucky to turn

outside of traditionally Republican south-central Kentucky; it has been in GOP hands for all but six years since 1967. Its politics are dominated by Republicans in the wealthy Cincinnati suburbs, which have swelled with former Cincinnati residents since the early 1960s. Between them, Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties have as many people as the rest of the district combined. As a measure of how much the Cincinnati suburbs have dominated the district, when Massie took office, he became the first congressman from the district's eastern portion in 45 years. Nonetheless, Democrats still hold state and local offices in rural counties. Until January 1, 2006, Kentucky did not track party affiliation for registered voters who were neither Democratic nor

. The Kentucky voter registration card does not explicitly list anything other than Democratic Party, Republican Party, or Other, with the "Other" option having a blank line and no instructions on how to register as something else.

Recent presidential elections

List of members representing the district

Recent election results

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

References

* *
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
{{coord, 38, 33, 57, N, 84, 25, 40, W, region:US_type:city_source:kolossus-eswiki, display=title 04 Boone County, Kentucky Boyd County, Kentucky Bracken County, Kentucky Campbell County, Kentucky Carroll County, Kentucky Gallatin County, Kentucky Grant County, Kentucky Greenup County, Kentucky Harrison County, Kentucky Henry County, Kentucky Jefferson County, Kentucky Lewis County, Kentucky Mason County, Kentucky Oldham County, Kentucky Owen County, Kentucky Pendleton County, Kentucky Shelby County, Kentucky Spencer County, Kentucky Trimble County, Kentucky Constituencies established in 1803 1803 establishments in Kentucky Constituencies disestablished in 1933 1933 disestablishments in Kentucky Constituencies established in 1935 1935 establishments in Kentucky