Michigan's 13th congressional district

Michigan's 13th congressional district is a United States congressional district in Wayne County, Michigan.

From 2003 to 2013 it included the east side of Detroit, portions of the city's near west side, the inner suburbs of River Rouge, Harper Woods, Ecorse, the downriver communities of Lincoln Park, and Wyandotte, as well as the upscale Grosse Pointe suburbs. The district shifted west from the 2012 redistricting, but still includes much of Detroit.

It is currently represented by Democrat John Conyers.

2002 redistricting

Following the 2000 census, the congressional apportionment for Michigan was reduced by one and redistricting resulted in the land area of the 13th district (as well as several others) changing significantly.

Prior to 2002, the 13th district encompassed a large portion of western Wayne County and part of eastern Washtenaw County.

Following redistricting, the new 13th district incorporated most of what had formerly been the 15th district, as well as a large portion of the 14th district and part of the 16th district.

Before redistricting, the old 15th district included Lincoln Park, Ecorse, River Rouge, Hamtramck, Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe Shores, and Grosse Pointe Farms. It also included all Detroit south and east of a line beginning at the point where Greenfield Road intersects the Dearborn border, heading north along Greenfield until it reached Lyndon Avenue. At Lyndon the line headed east to Livernois, although there was a small area on the south side of Lyndon just east of Schaffer Avenue that was in the 14th district. The boundary line then went about a block south on Livernois until it reached Doris Avenue. It followed Doris to Linwood Avenue (not to be confused with Lyndon Avenue) where it went not even a normal block's length south to go on Oakman Blvd. until it reached the Highland Park City line. The boundary ran along the west and south sides of Highland Park until the point where Highland Park meets Hamtramck. From that point, the boundary ran along the western and northern boundary of Hamtramck and then the eastern boundary of Hamtramck, until the point where the boundary intersected Brockton, which was then followed in a north-easterly direction until the intersection of Brockton and Mt. Elliot. At Mt. Elliot the boundary turned south until intersecting Georgia Avenue, and then proceeded east along Georgia Avenue. Where the boundary intersected Van Dyke Avenue it turned north until it intersected Ginnell Avenue, where it again turned east. The boundary followed Grinnell Avenue until it intersected Harding Avenue, where it turned south east for a block to where it intersected Gratiot and then turned to going Northeast.

The boundary followed Gratiot until it intersected Houston Whittier St, at which point it again turned east, following Houston Whittier until intersecting Kelly Road. The boundary then followed Kelly Road in a northeasterly direction until intersection Grayton Road, which went east by southeast. It followed Grayton until intersecting I-94 which it essentially followed north-eastward until it intersected the Grosse Point line.^[1]

The simple differences between the old 15th and the new 13th Districts are that the new 13th includes Grosse Pointe Shores, Grosse Pointe Woods and Harper Woods as well as Wyandotte, and no longer includes Hamtramck. The change in its part of Detroit is harder to explain, but it now touches 8 Mile Road. The portion of the district north of Tireman and west of Livernois has been moved to the 14th district. East of Livernois the boundary has been moved about 12 blocks south to about Courtland Street. It generally follows this line until intersecting with the Highland Park border. Highland Park remains in the 14th district. Hamtrack's western border where it touches Detroit and then its southern border forms the district line. This is then true of Hamtramck's eastern border, and then its northern border until this intersects Conant. Where the northern border of Hamtramck goes east of Conant, Conant becomes the western border of the 13th District. The boundary then follows Conant in a northeastward direction until it intersects Dequindre which it follows to Eight Mile. Thus the area north of the old district line east of Conant was all transferred from the 14th district to the 13th district.

The district's area had a population that was 60.8% African American in 2000, which was down from 69.9% African American in the old 15th district in 2000. The area of the 15th district had been 70% African-American in 1990. These figures are not 100% comparable since the 1990 census did not allow marking more than one race while the 2000 census did.

Pre-1992 district

Before 1992 the 13th congressional district was a Detroit-based district represented by Barbara-Rose Collins. Besides Downtown Detroit, the south-west portion of the city, Mid-town, some other sections to the south of Highland Park, and the southern East Side the district also included Grosse Pointe Park and Grosse Pointe City. This was the congressional district that lost the most people in the 1980s, but because of the voting rights act being interpreted to mandate districts where racial minorities were the majority of the population it was not destroyed in 1992 redistricting, only renumbered to being the 15th district.

Voting

List of representatives

Representative	Party	Years	Congress	Notes
District created		March 4, 1915
Charles A. Nichols	Republican	March 4, 1915 – April 25, 1920	64 65 66	Died
Vacant		April 25, 1920 – November 2, 1920	66
Clarence McLeod	Republican	November 2, 1920 – March 3, 1921		First elected to finish Nichols' term
Vincent M. Brennan	Republican	March 4, 1921 – March 3, 1923	67	Retired
Clarence McLeod	Republican	March 4, 1923 – January 3, 1937	68 69 70 71 72 73 74	Defeated
George O'Brien	Democratic	January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1939	75	Defeated
Clarence McLeod	Republican	January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1941	76	Defeated
George O'Brien	Democratic	January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1947	77 78 79	Defeated
Howard A. Coffin	Republican	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949	80	Defeated
George O'Brien	Democratic	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1955	81 82 83	Defeated in primary
Charles Diggs	Democratic	January 3, 1955 – June 3, 1980	83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95	Resigned
Vacant		June 3, 1980 – November 4, 1980	96
George W. Crockett, Jr.	Democratic	November 4, 1980 – January 3, 1991	96 97 98 99 100 101	Elected to finish Diggs's term Also elected to the next term
Barbara-Rose Collins	Democratic	January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1993	102	Redistricted to the 15th district
William D. Ford	Democratic	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995	103	Redistricted from the 15th district
Lynn N. Rivers	Democratic	January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2003	104 105 106 107	Lost renomination after being redistricted to the 15th district
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick	Democratic	January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2011	108 109 110 111	Redistricted from the 15th district Lost renomination
Hansen Clarke	Democratic	January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2013	112	Lost renomination after being redistricted to the 14th district
John Conyers	Democratic	January 3, 2013 – Present	113	Redistricted from the 14th district

Historical district boundaries

1993 – 2003

2003 – 2013

See also

• Michigan's congressional districts
• List of United States congressional districts

Notes

District boundaries were redrawn in 1993, and 2003 due to reapportionment following the censuses of 1990 and 2000.

References

• Hansen Clarke's web page
• Govtrack.us for the 13th District – Lists current Senators and representative, and map showing district outline
• U.S. Representatives 1837–2003, Michigan Manual 2003–2006
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. 
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. 
• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

Coordinates: 42°22′49″N 83°18′45″W / 42.38028°N 83.31250°W / 42.38028; -83.31250