Massachusetts's 5th congressional district is a congressional district in eastern Massachusetts. The district is represented by Katherine Clark of the Democratic Party. Massachusetts's congressional redistricting after the 2010 census changed the borders of the district starting with the elections of 2012, with the new 3rd district largely taking the place of the old 5th.[3] The 5th district covers many of the communities represented in the old 7th district.
Massachusetts's 5th congressional district
Interactive map of district boundaries since January 3, 2023
On July 15, 2013, Ed Markey resigned from the seat to become the junior Senator from Massachusetts. On December 10, 2013, Democrat Katherine Clark won a special election to fill the seat for the remainder of the 113th Congress.[4] She was sworn into office on December 12, 2013, and since January 2023 serves as the House Minority Whip.
The district has been in Democratic hands without interruption since 1975. Before Paul Tsongas' victory that year, it had only elected three Democrats in its entire existence and had been in Republican hands since 1895. It was one of the more moderate districts in heavily Democratic Massachusetts before redistricting in 2013. In state races, it supported Republican candidates for GovernorWilliam Weld, Paul Celluci, and Mitt Romney. In the 2007 special election to replace Marty Meehan, Republican candidate Jim Ogonowski ran an unexpectedly strong race before ultimately losing, 51–45%.
Massachusetts's congressional redistricting after the 2020 census (commencing with the 2022 election and the 118th Congress, whose House members were sworn in on January 3, 2023) assigns the 5th congressional district to much of Middlesex County, part of Norfolk County, and part of Suffolk County.
^"Massachusetts". Congressional Directory for the Second Session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress. Washington DC: House of Representatives. 1861. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016.
^Ben. Perley Poore (1869). "Massachusetts". Congressional Directory for the First Session of the Forty-First Congress (2nd ed.). Washington DC: Government Printing Office. hdl:2027/nyp.33433081796686.
^Ben. Perley Poore (1878). "Massachusetts". Congressional Directory: 45th Congress (3rd ed.). Washington DC: Government Printing Office. ISBN978-0-16-041176-2. Archived from the original on March 17, 2016.
^Ben. Perley Poore (1882). "Massachusetts". Congressional Directory: 47th Congress (3rd ed.). Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
^L.A. Coolidge (1897). "Massachusetts". Official Congressional Directory: Fifty-Fifth Congress. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
^A.J. Halford (1909). "Massachusetts". Congressional Directory: 60th Congress (2nd ed.). Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
^"Massachusetts". Official Congressional Directory: 75th Congress (2nd ed.). Washington DC: Government Printing Office. 1938.
^"Massachusetts". Official Congressional Directory: 90th Congress. Washington DC: Government Printing Office. 1968.
^"Massachusetts". 1991-1992 Official Congressional Directory: 102nd Congress. Washington DC: Government Printing Office. 1991.