U.S. House of Representatives

Welcome to the U.S. House of Representatives

Basic Facts on the U.S. House Qualifications of Members: years or older 2. U.S. Citizen for 7 years prior to election 3. Resident of State and District where elected Organization and Size: 435 members The number of Representatives each State has in the House is based on that State’s population Punishment and Expulsion May punish by a majority vote May expel a member by a 2/3 vote James Clyburn Gresham Barret

Basic Facts on the U.S. House Terms and Term Limits: 2 year term No term limits House Elections: The entire House of Representatives is up for election every 2 years Elected by voters Joe Wilson John Spratt

435 Total

South Carolina Congressional Districts 668,669 per district based on 2000 census 2

Reapportionment Census is taken every 10 years and states are given more House seats based on the increase in population House size grew too large (435 members in 1910) Reapportionment Act of 1929: Set the permanent size of the House at 435 members. After the census, House seats will be reapportioned among the states based on increase or decrease in population but the total number will always be 435

Redistricting Wesberry v. Sanders (1964): the population in each Congressional district must be about mathematically equal in population (One person one vote rule) Each Representative should represent about the same number of people The district lines must be redrawn (redistrict) after the census to account for changes in population (to make them equal) The State Legislature of each state is responsible for redistricting after the census

South Carolina Congressional Districts Re-drawing the lines to account for changes in the districts population

Gerrymandering Definition: drawing districts to advantage one political party over another “Packing”: To concentrate as many voters of one type into a single electoral district to reduce their influence in other districts “Cracking”: Spreading out voters of a particular type among many districts in order to deny them a sufficiently large voting block in any particular district State Legislature of each state is responsible for redistricting after the census (Party Control: R or D)

Printed in 1812, this political cartoon illustrates the electoral districts drawn by the Massachusetts legislature to favor the incumbent Democratic-Republican party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists, from which the term gerrymander is derived. The cartoon depicts the bizarre shape of a district in Essex County, Massachusetts as a dragon Massachusetts Democratic-RepublicanFederalistsEssex County, Massachusetts dragon Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering Districts Texas

Gerrymandering (California)

Gerrymandering (Arizona)

Gerrymandering (Illinois) Connecting two Hispanic neighborhoods by using Interstate 294

South Carolina Congressional Districts 668,669 per district based on 2000 census 2

1 st District: Tim Scott (R)

2 nd District: Joe Wilson (R)

3 rd District: Jeff Duncan (R)

4 th District: Trey Gowdy (R)

5 th District: Mick Mulvaney (R)

6 th District: James Clyburn (D)

Questions?