The 2nd congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district in East Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican Tim Burchett since January 2019. Although the district has taken many forms over the years, it has been centered on Knoxville since 1853. During the American Civil War era, the area was represented in Congress by Horace Maynard. Maynard switched parties many times but was pro-U.S. and did not resign from Congress when Tennessee seceded. Maynard entered Congress in 1857 (four years before the outbreak of the war) but did not leave entirely until 1875 (ten years after the war ended).
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Tennessee's 2nd congressional district
Interactive map of district boundaries since January 3, 2023
In the 1964 election, the district chose Knoxville mayor John Duncan, Sr. Duncan served for 23 years before he died in the summer of 1988. Following Duncan's death, the district elected his son, Jimmy. The younger Duncan served for over thirty years from late 1988 until his successor was sworn in early January 2019. Upon Jimmy Duncan's retirement, the district chose outgoing Knox County mayor Tim Burchett, who has served since January 2019.
The few Democratic pockets in the district are located in Knoxville, which occasionally elects Democratic mayors and sends Democratic legislators to the Tennessee General Assembly. However, they are no match for the overwhelming Republican bent of the rest of Knox County and the more suburban and rural areas. For example, Blount, Jefferson, and Grainger Counties are among the few counties in the country to have never supported a Democrat for president since the Civil War.
This district traditionally gives its members of Congress very long tenures in Washington, electing some of the few truly senior Southern Republican members before the 1950s. Since 1909, only seven people (not counting caretakers) have represented the district – Richard W. Austin, J. Will Taylor, John Jennings Jr., Howard Baker Sr., John Duncan Sr., Jimmy Duncan, and Burchett. All six of Burchett's predecessors have served at least ten years in Congress, with Taylor and the Duncans holding the seat for at least twenty years.
Current boundaries
The district is located in East Tennessee and borders Kentucky and Virginia to the north and North Carolina to the south.
The 2nd is similar in character to the neighboring 1st. It has long been one of the safest districts in the nation for the Republican Party. No Democrat has represented the district since 1855, and Republicans have held the district continuously since 1867 — the longest time any party has retained any district. The Democrats waged some competitive races in the district during the 1930s. However, they have not put up a substantive candidate since 1964 and have only managed 40 percent of the vote twice since then.
Most of its residents supported the United States over the Confederacy during the American Civil War; it was one of four districts whose members of Congress did not resign when Tennessee declared secession from the United States in 1861. The area's residents immediately identified with the Republicans after hostilities ceased. Much of that sentiment was derived from the region's economic base of small-scale farming, with little or no use for slavery; thus, voters were mostly indifferent or hostile to the concerns of plantation owners and other landed interests farther west in the state, who aligned themselves with the Democratic Party. This loyalty has persisted through good times and bad ever since, despite the vast ideological changes in both political parties since that time.
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