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"Charlottesville
and Albemarle County fall into Virginia's 5th Congressional District, a
giant territory occupying the central core of the Commonwealth that includes
Danville, Bedford, lots of rural land and at least part of 18 counties.
All of Virginia's 11 congressional districts contain about the same number
of people, meaning that the relatively sprawling 5th District is far less
densely populated than districts in Northern Virginia and Tidewater.
Getting a fix on party-line voting in the 5th District is difficult,
mostly because its longtime representative in Congress, Virgil Goode Jr.,
changed political affiliations twice. A conservative Democrat when first
elected in 1996, Goode, a UVA Law School alum, became an independent in
2000, shortly after becoming one of only five Democrats to vote for the
impeachment of Bill Clinton.
Goode joined the Republican Party in 2002. In an election later that
year, Goode trounced Democrat Meredith Richards with 64 percent of the vote.
He is up for reelection again this November, and is challenged by Democrat
Al Weed of Nelson." (Paul Fain, C-VILLE Weekly, June 29 - July 5,
2004)
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5th District |
Charlottesville |
| Total population |
643,497 |
43,833 |
| White persons |
72.4 percent |
68.4 percent |
| Black persons |
24.1 percent |
22.2 percent |
| Hispanic/Latino persons |
1.6 percent |
2.4 percent |
| Speak language other than English at home |
4.5 percent |
10.7 percent |
| High school graduate or highter (people 25 or older) |
72.4 percent |
80.8 percent |
| Bachelor's degree or higher (people 25 or older) |
19 percent |
40.8 percent |
| Median household income |
$35,739 |
$31,007 |
| Persons below poverty level |
13.2 percent |
25.9 percent |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000; nationalatlas.gov
Editor's Note: Income and poverty level statistics for Charlottesville
are often misleading due to the inclusion in the database of UVA students,
who often have no local source of income.
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