Virginia's fifth congressional district is a

United States congressional district Congressional districts in the United States are electoral divisions for the purpose of electing members of the United States House of Representatives. The number of voting seats within the House of Representatives is currently set at 435, wi ...

in the commonwealth of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. The 5th district includes the majority of rural

Southside Virginia Southside, or Southside Virginia, has traditionally referred to the portion of the state south of the James River, the geographic feature from which the term derives its name. This was the first area to be developed in the colonial period. Dur ...

, though it stretches as far as the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

suburbs. Within the district are the cities of

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...

, Danville, and Lynchburg. It has been represented by Republican John McGuire since 2025. The district's first representative in Congress was

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

, who defeated

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...

in the district's first congressional election. Madison and Monroe would go on to serve as the 4th and 5th Presidents of the United States. The current Congressman is Republican John McGuire. Historically, the 5th was one of the first districts of Virginia to turn Republican in presidential elections. Southside was one of the fountainheads for the

Byrd Organization The Byrd machine, or Byrd Organization, was a political machine of the Democratic Party led by former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd (1887–1966) that dominated Virginia politics for much of the 20th century. From the 1890s until the ...

, and the region's Democrats began splitting their tickets in presidential elections as early as the 1930s. The trend accelerated in the years before the Civil Rights Act of 1965, as large portions of the area's limited and almost entirely white electorate who preferred conservative positions on

black civil rights Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''Psy ...

. The district was to be one of two in Virginia which gave a plurality of the vote to segregationist

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

in 1968, and has never supported a Democrat for president since

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

in 1948. Despite this, the congressional seat remained in the hands of Democrats who were very conservative even by Virginia standards. This ended in 1999, when

Virgil Goode Virgil Hamlin Goode Jr. ( born October 17, 1946) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 5th congressional district of Virginia from 1997 to 2009. He was initially a Democrat, but beca ...

became an independent; he became a Republican in 2002. In 2008, Democrat

Tom Perriello Thomas Stuart Price Perriello (born October 9, 1974) is an American attorney, diplomat, and politician. For over four years until July 2023, Perriello served as the executive director for U.S. Programs at the Open Society Foundations. Perriello ...

defeated Goode with significant Democratic down-ballot coattails from the Obama campaign. Republican Robert Hurt defeated Perriello in 2010, going on to serve three terms. After Hurt left office, the district continued to elect Republicans, including Tom Garrett,

Denver Riggleman Denver Lee Riggleman III (born March 17, 1970) is an American businessman and former politician from Virginia who served as the United States representative for Virginia's 5th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. A former Air Force officer a ...

, who both served one term, and Bob Good, who was re-elected in 2022. However, Republican State Senator John McGuire successfully primaried Good in June 2024 and won the general election. Redistricting after the 2020 census added Lynchburg to the district; most of its suburbs have been in the 5th for decades. It was also pushed as far east as

Hanover County Hanover County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 109,979. Its county seat is Hanover. Hanover County is a part of the Greater Richmond Region. History Located in the western Tidewater ...

on Richmond's northern fringe.

Demographics

According to the APM Research Lab's Voter Profile Tools (featuring the U.S. Census Bureau's 2019 American Community Survey), the district contained about 580,000 potential voters (citizens, age 18+). Of these, 75% are White and 20% are Black. Immigrants make up 3% of the district's potential voters. Median income among households (with one or more potential voter) in the district is about $57,700, while 12% of households live below the poverty line. As for the educational attainment of potential voters in the district, 12% of those 25 and older have not earned a high school degree, while 27% hold a bachelor's or higher degree.

Area covered

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: Albemarle County (15) : All 15 communities Amelia County (1) : Amelia Court House Amherst County (2) : Amherst, Madison Heights Appomattox County (3) : All 3 communities Bedford County (1) :

Forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

Buckingham County (3) : All 3 communities Campbell County (5) : All 5 communities Charlotte County (4) : All 4 communities Cumberland County (2) :

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

Farmville ''FarmVille'' is a series of agriculture-simulation social network games developed and published by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to '' Happy Farm'' and ''Farm Town''. Its gameplay involves various aspects of farmland management, such as plo ...

(shared with Prince Edward County) Fluvanna County (4) : All 4 communities Goochland County (1) : Goochland Halifax County (9) : All 9 communities Hanover County (0) : No incorporated or census-recognized communities Louisa County (3) : All 3 communities Lunenberg County (3) : All 3 communities Mecklenburg County (11) : All 11 communities Nelson County (7) : All 7 communities Nottoway County (4) : All 4 communities Powhatan County (1) :

Powhatan Powhatan people () are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who belong to member tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, or Tsenacommacah. They are Algonquian peoples whose historic territories were in eastern Virginia. Their Powh ...

Pittsylvania County (6) : All 6 communities Prince Edward County (3) : All 3 communities Independent cities (3) :

, Danville, Lynchburg

Recent election results from statewide races

Recent election results

2024

2024 Virginia's 5th congressional district election Republican John McGuire III, who had ousted Bob Good in the Republican primary, defeated Democrat Gloria Witt in the November general election on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

2022

2022 Virginia's 5th congressional district election Incumbent Bob Good defeated Josh Throneburg in the November general election on Tuesday, November 8, 2022.

2020

2020 Virginia's 5th congressional district election Republican Bob Good defeated Dr. Cameron Webb in the November general election on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

2018

2018 Virginia's 5th congressional district election Took place on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, with Republican Denver Riggleman winning the election. The incumbent, Tom Garrett, did not run for re-election.

2016

2016 Virginia's 5th congressional district election

List of members representing the district

Historical district boundaries

The Virginia Fifth District was originally created in 1788, including the counties of Albemarle, Amherst, Fluvanna, Goochland, Louisa, Spotsylvania, Orange, and Culpepper.

References

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

External links

5th CD Democratic Committee website5th CD Republican Committee website
{{Coord, 37, 3, 31.8, N, 79, 5, 11.2, W, display=title 05 Constituencies established in 1789 1789 establishments in Virginia Constituencies disestablished in 1933 1933 disestablishments in Virginia Constituencies established in 1935 1935 establishments in Virginia