Myth Busted: Republicans As The Party of the Rich...Part Deux

Two weeks ago, I published a blog highlighting the voting patterns in the 100 wealthiest and the 100 least wealthy Congressional districts. After appearing on “The Conservative Underground” podcast, I realized the lists of the 100^th Wealthiest and Least Wealthy Congressional Districts could benefit from the presence of Presidential margins, geographic details, and the names of their incoming representatives accompanying them.  Presidential margins accompanied by a “+” sign indicate President Trump won the district while Presidential margins accompanied by a minus sign indicate that Hillary Clinton won the district.  Remember that red districts have Republican representatives, blue districts will have Democratic representatives, bolded districts indicated Democratic pickups in 2018, and underlined districts indicate Democratic-held districts carried by President Trump in 2016.

 

Table 1: Midterm Election Results in the 100 Wealthiest Congressional Districts

District	Region	Median Income	Rank	116th Congress Representative	2016 Presidential Margin
CA-18	Silicon Valley	$134.08k	01	Anna Eshoo	-53.2
CA-17	Silicon Valley	$124.13k	02	Ro Khanna	-53.4
VA-10	Swamp Suburbs	$122.09k	03	Jennifer Wexton	-10
CA-15	Silicon Valley	$116.71k	04	Eric Swalwell	-45.7
NJ-7	Central Jersey	$113.99k	05	Tom Malinowski	-1.1
NJ-11	North Jersey	$112.35k	06	Mikie Sherill	+0.9
CA-12	San Francisco	$111.72k	07	Nancy Pelosi	-77.5
CA-14	Silicon Valley	$110.51k	08	Jackie Speier	-58.7
NY-3	Long Island	$107.4k	09	Tom Suozzi	-6.1
NY-12	Manhattan	$107.01k	10	Carolyn	-69.8
VA-11	Swamp Suburbs	$106.53k	11	Gerry Connolly	-29.4
CA-33	Beverly Hills/Malibu	$105.2k	12	Ted Lieu	-41.3
VA-8	Swamp Suburbs	$104.15k	13	Don Beyer	-52.6
NY-4	Long Island	$102.21k	14	Kathleen Rice	-9.6
CA-45	Orange County	$102.04k	15	Katie Porter	-5.1
CA-19	Silicon Valley	$101.43k	16	Zoe Lofgren	-51.4
MD-8	Swamp Suburbs	$100.95k	17	Jamie Raskin	-34.9
MA-4	Boston Suburbs	$100.74k	18	Joe Kennedy	-24.2
NJ-5	North Jersey	$100.61k	19	Josh Gottheimer	+1.1
IL-6	Chicago Suburbs	$98.89k	20	Sean Casten	-7
MA-5	Cambridge	$98.78k	21	Katherine Clark	-43.6
NY-2	Long Island	$97.39k	22	Peter King	+9.1
MD-5	Swamp Suburbs	$96.33k	23	Steny Hoyer	-32
NY-17	NYC Suburbs	$96.13k	24	Nita Lowey	-20.2
CA-52	San Diego	$95.77k	25	Scott Peters	-22.5
TX-3	Dallas Suburbs	$95.24k	26	Van Taylor	+14.2
WA-1	Seattle Suburbs	$94.64k	27	Suzan Del Bene	-16.3
CT-4	NYC Suburbs	$94.55k	28	Jim Himes	-23
TX-22	Houston Suburbs	$94.05k	29	Pete Olson	+7.9
NY-10	Manhattan	$93.63k	30	Jerry Nadler	-59.5
IL-14	Chicago Suburbs	$92.46k	31	Lauren Underwood	+3.9
GA-6	Atlanta Suburbs	$92.32k	32	Lucy McBath	+1.5
NY-1	Long Island	$92.28k	33	Lee Zeldin	+12.3
TX-26	Dallas Suburbs	$91.65k	34	Michael Burgess	+26.5
PA-7 (old)	Southeast PA	$90.55k	35	Mary Gay Scanlon	-2.3
MA-8	Boston Suburbs	$90.32k	36	Stephen Lynch	-26
CA-11	Silicon Valley	$90.16k	37	Mark De Saulnier	-48.8
CA-48	Orange County	$89.81k	38	Harley Rouda	-1.7
MN-3	Twin Cities Suburbs	$89.44k	39	Dean Phillips	-9.4
CA-39	Orange County	$89.3k	40	Gil Cisneros	-8.6
CA-49	San Diego Suburbs	$88.31k	41	Mike Levin	-7.5
VA-1	Eastern VA	$88.05k	42	Rob Wittman	+12.4
MD-3	Baltimore Suburbs	$87.73k	43	John Sarbanes	-30.5
WA-7	Seattle	$86.45k	44	Pramila Jayapal	-69.9
NJ-4	Central Jersey	$86.37k	45	Chris Smith	+14.8
NY-18	NYC Suburbs	$86.21k	46	Sean Patrick Maloney	+1.9
MA-6	Boston Suburbs	$85.95k	47	Seth Moulton	-17.9
NJ-12	Princeton	$85.6k	48	Bonnie Watson Coleman	-33.2
PA-8 (old)	Southeast PA	$84.7k	49	Brian Fitzpatrick	+0.2
CA-42	Inland Empire	$83.84k	50	Ken Calvert	+12
WA-8	Seattle Suburbs	$83.5k	51	Kim Schrier	-3
MI-11	Detroit Suburbs	$82.55k	52	Haley Stevens	+4.4
NJ-6	Jersey Shore	$82.45k	53	Frank Pallone	-15.6
NJ-3	Philadelphia Suburbs	$82.3k	54	Andy Kim	+6.2
PA-6 (old)	Philadelphia Suburbs	$82.2k	55	Chrissy Houlahan	-0.6
IL-5	Chicago	$82.21k	56	Mike Quigley	-46.6
CA-26	Thousand Oaks	$82.03k	57	Julia Brownley	-21.9
MN-2	Twin Cities Suburbs	$81.89k	58	Angie Craig	+1.2
CA-30	LA Suburbs	$81.28k	59	Brad Sherman	-43.4
MD-4	Swamp Suburbs	$81.15k	60	Anthony Brown	-57.5
CO-6	Denver Suburbs	$80.61k	61	Jason Crow	-8.9
WA-9	Seattle	$80.28k	62	Adam Smith	-47.2
IL-10	Chicago Suburbs	$80.23k	63	Brad Schneider	-29.4
HI-1	Honolulu	$80.08k	64	Ed Case	-32.6
CO-2	Boulder	$80.02k	65	Joe Nguese	-21.3
MN-6	Twin Cities Suburbs	$79.83k	66	Tom Emmer	+25.7
MO-2	St. Louis Suburbs	$79.5k	67	Ann Wagner	+10.3
MD-6	Swamp Suburbs	$79.25k	68	David Trone	-15.1
CA-5	Wine Country	$78.15k	69	Mike Thompson	-35.1
CA-27	LA Suburbs	$77.63k	70	Judy Chu	-37.6
VA-7	Richmond Suburbs	$77.53k	71	Abigail Spanberger	+6.5
TX-2	Houston Suburbs	$77.52k	72	Dan Crenshaw	+9.3
CA-50	San Diego Suburbs	$77.16k	73	Duncan Hunter	+15
CA-13	Berkeley	$76.92k	74	Barbara Lee	-80.6
CA-25	LA Suburbs	$76.87k	75	Katie Hill	-6.7
CA-2	Wine Country	$76.11k	76	Jared Huffman	-45.7
CA-4	Eastern CA	$75.84k	77	Tom McClintock	+14.7
MA-3	Lowell	$75.65k	78	Lori Trahan	-22.8
OR-1	NW Oregon	$75.59k	79	Suzanne Bonamici	-22.8
TX-10	Austin	$75.52k	80	Michael McCaul	+9.1
IL-11	Chicago Suburbs	$75.45k	81	Bill Foster	-23.5
HI-2	Maui	$75.29k	82	Tulsi Gabbard	-31.8
GA-7	Atlanta Suburbs	$74.87k	83	Rob Woodall	+6.3
CA-7	Sacramento Suburbs	$74.61k	84	Ami Bera	-11.4
TX-24	Dallas Suburbs	$74.13k	85	Kenny Marchant	+6.2
KS-3	Kansas City	$74.12k	86	Sharice Davids	-1.2
CT-2	Eastern CT	$73.81k	87	Joe Courtney	-2.9
CO-4	Denver Suburbs	$73.74k	88	Ken Buck	+23.1
NH-1	Manchester	$73.49k	89	Chris Pappas	+1.6
AZ-6	Phoenix Suburbs	$73.43k	90	David Schweikert	+10
NH-2	Concord	$73.25k	91	Ann McLane Kuster	-2.4
MD-1	Eastern Shore	$73.21k	92	Andy Harris	+28.6
AK-AL	Entire state	$73.18k	93	Don Young	+15.2
TX-7	Houston Suburbs	$73.13k	94	Lizzie Panill Fletcher	-1.4
CA-20	Silicon Valley	$73.08k	95	Jimmy Panetta	-47.2
CT-5	Northwest Connecticut	$72k	96	Jahana Hayes	-4.1
UT-4	Salt Lake City	$72.94k	97	Ben McAdams	+6.7
NY-11	Staten Island	$72.63k	98	Max Rose	+9.8
CA-53	San Diego	$72.48k	99	Susan Davis	-34.9
CA-38	LA Suburbs	$72.46k	100	Linda Sanchez	-39.6
Average					-15.7

 

Table 2: Midterm Election Results in 100 Least Affluent Congressional Districts

District	Region	Median Income	Rank	116th Congress Representative	2016 Presidential Vote
NY-15	Bronx	$28.04k	435	Jose Serrano	-88.9
KY-5	Coal country	$31.73k	434	Hal Rogers	+62.1
MI-13	Detroit	$35.37k	433	Rashida Tlaib	-60.7
SC-6	Charleston to Columbia	$35.62k	432	Jim Clyburn	-36.5
MS-2	Jackson	$35.84k	431	Bennie Thompson	-28.5
OH-11	Cleveland	$35.95k	430	Marcia Fudge	-63.5
AL-7	Birmingham to Montgomery	$35.99k	429	Terri Sewell	-41.2
WV-3	Coal country	$36k	428	Carol Miller	+49.2
LA-4	Shreveport	$37.1k	427	Mike Johnson	+24
LA-2	New Orleans	$37.34k	426	Cedric Richmond	-52.4
LA-5	NE  Louisiana	$37.42k	425	Ralph Abraham	+29.4
GA-2	SW Georgia	$37.57k	424	Sanford Bishop	-11.7
TX-34	Gulf coast	$37.98k	423	Filemon Vela	-21.5
PA-2 (old)	Philadelphia	$39.13k	422	Dwight Evans	-82.8
OK-2	Eastern Oklahoma	$40.31k	421	Markwayne Mullin	+50.1
TN-9	Memphis	$40.49k	420	Steve Cohen	-57.7
MO-8	SE Missouri	$40.54k	419	Jason Smith	+54.4
AR-4	SW Arkansas	$40.91k	418	Bruce Westerman	+32.9
FL-5	Jacksonville to Tallahassee	$40.92k	417	Al Lawson	-25.4
AR-1	Eastern Arkansas	$41.14k	416	Rick Crawford	+34.8
FL-24	Miami	$41.17k	415	“Wacky Congresswoman” Wilson	-67.5
NV-1	Las Vegas	$41.28k	414	Dina Titus	-29
KY-1	Western Kentucky	$41.93k	413	James Comer	+48.5
WI-4	Milwaukee	$42.09k	412	Gwen Moore	-52.2
SC-7	Myrtle Beach	$42.16k	411	Tom Rice	+18.9
TX-33	Dallas	$42.23k	410	Marc Veasey	-49.2
TN-1	Appalachia	$42.3k	409	Phil Roe	+57
TX-15	Border district	$42.47k	408	Vicente Gonzalez	-16.7
NM-2	Border district	$42.51k	407	Xochitl Torres Small	+10.2
CA-21	Central CA	$42.62k	406	TJ Cox	-15.5
IN-7	Indianapolis	$42.63k	405	Andre Carson	-22.8
TX-29	Houston	$42.79k	404	Sylvia Garcia	-45.7
GA-12	Augusta	$43.18k	403	Rick Allen	+16.2
OH-9	Toledo	$43.18k	402	Marcy Kaptur	-22.2
AL-4	Appalachia	$43.22k	401	Robert Aderholt	+63
CA-16	Fresno	$43.84k	400	Jim Costa	-21.6
NC-1	Durham	$43.85k	399	G.K. Butterfield	-37
NY-13	Harlem	$43.88k	398	Adriano Espaillat	-86.9
AZ-7	Phoenix	$43.97k	397	Ruben Gallego	-49.2
VA-9	Appalachia	$43.99k	396	Morgan Griffith	+41.5
MI-5	Flint	$44.38	395	Dan Kildee	-4.2
FL-20	South Florida	$44.44k	394	Alcee Hastings	-62.1
OH-13	Youngstown	$45.18k	393	Tim Ryan	-6.5
GA-8	South Central GA	$45.28k	392	Austin Scott	+28.9
PA-1 (old)	Philadelphia	$45.4k	391	N/A-district abolished	-61.3
MS-4	Gulf coast	$45.44k	390	Steven Palazzo	+41.2
MS-3	Appalachia	$45.48k	389	Michael Guest	+24.5
TX-16	El Paso	$45.56k	388	Veronica Escobar	-40.7
TX-18	Houston	$45.58k	387	Sheila Jackson Lee	-56.5
MO-1	St. Louis	$45.79k	386	William Lacy Clay	-48.2
PA-14 (old)	Pittsburgh	$45.97k	385	Mike Doyle	-35.5
NC-11	Appalachia	$46.34k	384	Mark Meadows	+29.2
AL-3	East Central AL	$46.48k	383	Mike Rogers	+33
CA-36	Palm Springs	$46.49k	382	Raul Ruiz	-8.8
NC-5	Winston-Salem	$46.51k	381	Virginia Foxx	+17.6
AL-2	South Central AL	$46.58k	380	Martha Roby	+31.9
MI-14	Detroit	$46.5k	379	Brenda Lawrence	-60.9
TX-28	Border district	$46.78k	378	Henry Cuellar	-19.8
CA-34	Downtown LA	$46.88k	377	Jimmy Gomez	-72.9
FL-11	Gulf coast	$46k	376	Daniel Webster	+32.3
NC-10	Appalachia	$47.06k	375	Patrick McHenry	+24.6
OH-6	Appalachia	$47.07k	374	Bill Johnson	+42.6
OH-3	Columbus	$47.12k	373	Joyce Beatty	-28.4
CA-40	LA	$47.19k	372	Lucille Roybal-Allard	-69.4
MO-7	SW Missouri	$47.23k	371	Billy Long	+45.7
NM-3	Northern NM	$47.33k	370	Ben Ray Lujan	-15.1
WV-1	Northern WV	$47.45k	369	David McKinley	+41.6
FL-3	Gainesville	$47.61k	368	Ted Yoho	+16
AZ-3	Border district	$47.67k	367	Raul Grijalva	-29.9
MS-1	Appalachia	$47.68k	366	Trent Kelly	+33
TN-3	Appalachia	$47.68k	365	Chuck Fleischmann	+35.2
LA-3	SW Louisiana	$47.74k	364	Clay Higgins	+38.1
AL-1	Gulf coast	$47.98k	363	Bradley Byrne	+29.4
SC-3	Western SC	$47k	362	Jeff Duncan	+38
CA-51	Border district	$48.04k	361	Juan Vargas	-49
IL-17	Western Illinois	$48.04k	360	Cheri Bustos	+0.7
TX-35	Austin	$48.28k	359	Lloyd Doggett	-33.6
FL-6	Daytona	$48.2k	358	Michael Waltz	+17
NC-7	Wilmington	$48.35k	357	David Rouzer	+17.7
MI-1	Upper Peninsula	$48.42k	356	Jack Bergman	+21.3
WV-2	Central WV	$48.43k	355	Alex Mooney	+36.4
IL-12	Southern IL	$48.57k	354	Mike Bost	+14.8
TX-19	Lubbock to Abilene	$48.59k	353	Jodey Arrington	+49
ME-2	Northern Maine	$48.6k	352	Jared Golden	+10.3
TX-9	Houston	$48.74k	351	Al Green	-61.3
FL-2	Big Bend	$48.84	350	Neal Dunn	+35.6
TX-1	East Texas	$49.09k	349	Louie Gohmert	+46.9
NY-26	Buffalo	$49.15k	348	Brian Higgins	-19.6
PA-9 (old)	Appalachia	$49.36k	347	John Joyce	+42.5
KS-1	Western Kansas	$49.38k	346	Roger Marshall	+45
AZ-4	Western Arizona	$49.39k	345	Paul Gosar	+40.2
FL-17	Gulf Coast	$49.45k	344	Greg Steube	+27.2
MI-4	Central Michigan	$49.45k	343	John Moolenaar	+24.8
OR-4	Southwest Oregon	$49.67k	342	Peter DeFazio	-0.1
NC-6	Appalachia	$49.87k	341	Mark Walker	+14.7
TX-30	Dallas	$49.97k	340	Eddie Bernice Johnson	-50.8
OK-3	Western Oklahoma	$50.09k	339	Frank Lucas	+52.7
FL-25	South Florida	$50.12k	338	Mario Diaz-Balart	+1.8
GA-14	Appalachia	$50.13k	337	Tom Graves	+52.9
NM-1	Albuquerque	$50.16k	336	Debra Haaland	-16.5
Average					-2.1

As the data demonstrates, most of the 100 wealthiest Congressional districts consist of wealthy suburbs, areas surrounding the Swamp, parts of Silicon Valley, and college towns, while most of the 100 least affluent Congressional districts consist of parts of Appalachia, inner cities, majority-minority areas, rural areas, and areas along the US-Mexico border.