Florida's 3rd congressional district is an electoral district of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

located in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. It presently comprises a large section of north central Florida, including the entire counties of Alachua,

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, Columbia,

Dixie Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas have shifted over the years), or the extent of the area i ...

, Gilchrist,

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

Levy Levy, Lévy or Levies may refer to: People * Levy (surname), people with the surname Levy or Lévy * Levy Adcock (born 1988), American football player * Levy Barent Cohen (1747–1808), Dutch-born British financier and community worker * Levy ...

, Suwannee, and Union, along with the majority of Lafayette and Marion County. The city of Gainesville is in the district as well as part of

Ocala Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Florida, United States. Located in North Central Florida, the city's population was 63,591 as of the 2020 census, up from 56,315 at the 2010 census and making it the 43rd-most popul ...

(its northern suburbs), and portions of the

Jacksonville metropolitan area The Jacksonville Metropolitan Area, also called the First Coast, Metro Jacksonville, or Northeast Florida, is the metropolitan area centered on the principal city of Jacksonville, Florida and including the First Coast of North Florida. As of th ...

. Redistricting in Florida, effective for the 2012 federal elections, radically altered the nature of the 3rd district. From 1993 through 2012 the district called the 3rd district comprised an entirely different territory, roughly similar to the 5th district . Likewise the present territory of the new 3rd district, as of the 2012 elections, is made up of parts of the former 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th districts, though it is geographically similar to the pre-2013 6th district. The former 3rd district was an intentionally

gerrymandered Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries to advantage a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. Th ...

territory designed to unite disparate areas of northeastern Florida with significant African-American populations into a black-majority district, and was overwhelmingly Democratic in voting patterns. The new 3rd district has a majority white population, largely in rural areas and small towns. The only cities of any size in the district are Gainesville and Ocala. The district has been represented by Republican

Kat Cammack Kathryn Christine Cammack ( ; born February 16, 1988) is an American politician and political advisor serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 3rd congressional district. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, ...

since 2021. While Florida has had at least three congressional districts since the 1900 U.S. census, the 1993–2012 3rd congressional district dates to

reapportionment Apportionment is the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionment ...

done by the Florida Legislature after the 1990 U.S. census. Because Florida has a large population of

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

, but not a large enough concentration anywhere in the state to easily configure a congressional district with a majority, there were several attempts to create a few

districts which were certain to elect an African American candidate. This created an odd coalition of black Democrats and Republicans who supported such districts (since this not only created black-majority districts, but also made "safer" Republican districts elsewhere). This effort was opposed by many white Democrats, but eventually, this idea won the support of the state legislature and this district was created as a result. The 1993–2012 3rd congressional district was geographically diverse. Starting from the southern part of the district, it included the Pine Hills area of the Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Area with small pockets of

African-American neighborhood African-American neighborhoods or black neighborhoods are types of ethnic enclaves found in many cities in the United States. Generally, an African American neighborhood is one where the majority of the people who live there are African American ...

s in the cities of Sanford, Gainesville, Palatka, and finally the larger African American communities of

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. Connecting these areas were regions that are sparsely populated—either expansive rural areas or narrow strips which are only a few miles wide.

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

received 73% of the vote in this district in the 2008 Presidential election. The old 3rd district was represented from 1993 through 2012 by

Corrine Brown Corrine Brown (born November 11, 1946) is an American former politician and convicted felon who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida from 1993 to 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party. After a court-orde ...

, who was elected to the similar new 5th district in the November 2012 elections.

Voting

Recent election results from statewide races

Voter registration

Composition

For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties and communities:https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/cd118/cd_based/ST12/CD118_FL03.pdf Alachua County (9) : All 9 communities Baker County (2) : Macclenny, Glen St. Mary Bradford County (4) : All 4 communities Columbia County (4) : All 4 communities Dixie County (3) : All 3 communities Gilchrist County (4) : All 4 communities Hamilton County (3) : All 3 communities Lafayette County (2) :

Day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...

(part; also

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Minute and second of arc, ...

), Mayo Levy County (16) : All 16 communities Marion County (11) : Dunnellon, McIntosh,

, Ocala Estates, On Top of the World, Rainbow Lakes Estates (shared with Levy County), Liberty Triangle, Marion Oaks, Rainbow Park,

Rainbow Springs Rainbow Springs, formerly known as Blue Spring, is a first-magnitude artesian spring formation in Marion County, Florida, United States, several miles north of the city of Dunnellon, Florida, Dunnellon. Rainbow Springs is the focal point of ...

, Reddick Suwanne County (2) : Branford,

Live Oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are generally not more closely related to each other than they are to o ...

Union County (3) : All 3 communities

List of members representing the district

Recent election results

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

Results

Historical district boundaries

File:FL03 109.gif, File:Florida US Congressional District 3 (since 2013).tif, File:FL03 115.png,

References

* *
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
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