Congressional District 8 Congressional District (TN) — Elections 1876–2024

Tennessee 8th Congressional District, Tennessee: Old Confederacy district. In 2024, voted R+27%. Democratic peak: D+67 in 1936.

Key facts

2024 presidential margin: R+27MIT Election Lab
Political archetype: Old ConfederacyAkashic typology
Population: 849,3252024 5-year
Median household income: $60,2392024 5-year
White (non-Hispanic): 59.9%2024 5-year
Black: 30.2%2024 5-year
Hispanic / Latino: 5.5%2024 5-year
Peak Democratic margin: D+67 in 1936MIT Election Lab
Peak Republican margin: R+39 in 1972MIT Election Lab

2024 results by constituent county

27 counties · 2 D · 25 R

R+60

D+60

One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.

38 presidential elections

Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024).
Year	Won	Margin	Democratic	Republican	Total
2024	R	−26.5%	122,763	213,152	340,487
2020	R	−19.1%	144,331	213,645	363,396
2016	R	−18.6%	125,378	184,775	319,888
2012	R	−10.1%	149,798	183,703	337,093
2008	R	−6.1%	167,331	189,308	360,303
2004	R	−3.9%	159,756	172,731	334,411
2000	D	+2.5%	149,177	141,801	294,569
1996	D	+8.8%	142,273	118,267	274,265
1992	D	+8.1%	150,358	126,113	300,853
1988	R	−9.4%	114,126	137,923	253,417
1984	R	−8.2%	124,882	147,340	273,710
1980	D	+4.8%	135,087	122,378	263,078
1976	D	+16.9%	138,523	98,063	239,176
1972	R	−39.5%	59,006	139,719	204,469
1968	O	−1.5%	60,383	63,637	213,573
1964	D	+9.1%	104,307	86,855	191,162
1960	R	−0.2%	79,897	80,244	164,690
1956	D	+13.9%	80,855	60,263	147,755
1952	D	+13.2%	83,446	63,975	147,867
1948	D	+26.8%	47,061	22,494	91,554
1944	D	+42.2%	60,528	24,540	85,248
1940	D	+56.0%	75,603	21,242	97,146
1936	D	+66.5%	68,533	13,601	82,568
1932	D	+60.2%	54,203	13,207	68,072
1928	D	+24.3%	37,475	22,821	60,401
1924	D	+38.9%	36,705	15,669	54,048
1920	D	+21.0%	55,482	36,143	91,974
1916	D	+33.8%	37,866	18,620	56,974
1912	D	+35.6%	27,945	10,844	48,054
1908	D	+27.0%	30,967	17,615	49,415
1904	D	+30.8%	34,249	17,768	53,539
1900	D	+25.5%	35,519	20,794	57,850
1896	D	+26.3%	43,473	25,166	69,685
1892	D	+25.7%	32,505	17,457	58,455
1888	—	No data	—	—	—
1884	—	No data	—	—	—
1880	—	No data	—	—	—
1876	—	No data	—	—	—

Demographics

Race, ethnicity, and ancestry

Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.

American

12.0%

English

10.2%

Irish

8.1%

German

5.9%

Italian

1.6%

Scottish

1.5%

French

0.8%

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.

Age distribution by sex

Median age: 39.3 in this county, 39.1 nationally

Male

Age

Female

0.6%

85+

1.1%

2.3%

75–84

3.0%

4.9%

65–74

5.8%

6.3%

55–64

6.8%

5.9%

45–54

6.1%

6.0%

35–44

6.3%

6.4%

25–34

6.6%

4.5%

18–24

4.3%

8.7%

5–17

8.3%

3.0%

2.9%

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

Median household income

2024 inflation-adjusted dollars

$60,239

Congressional District 8 ranks near the middle of US counties.

Congressional District 8$60,239

Tennessee$63,726

United States$80,734

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

Poverty rate

All persons below federal poverty line

17.4%

Children face moderate poverty.

Children under 1824.6%

Working age (18–64)15.3%

Seniors (65+)13.7%

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

Language at home

Population aged 5 and older

93.9%

speak English only

Spanish3.9%

Other Indo-European0.9%

Asian & Pacific Islander0.8%

Other languages0.5%

Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.

Religious adherents

Adherents per capita by tradition

Baptist

30.9%

Other Christian

15.3%

Methodist

7.1%

Pentecostal & Holiness

3.9%

Catholic & Orthodox

3.1%

Mainline Protestant

2.6%

Non-Christian

1.3%

Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 35.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Tennessee 8th Congressional District sits in the Border South and Appalachia. For nearly a century after Reconstruction, the district voted Democratic — not because of New Deal politics, but because of the long memory of the Civil War. The Democratic party of the Solid South was the party of segregation, and in Tennessee 8th Congressional District as throughout the former Confederacy, Republican identification was politically untenable until the second half of the twentieth century.

The shift began with civil rights. 2004 marked the realignment in Tennessee 8th Congressional District, by a four points margin. The Republican margin reached its widest at thirty-nine points in 1972. The 2024 margin was twenty-seven points.

The political shift has tracked, in Tennessee 8th Congressional District, the political shift of the South more broadly. A 60% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $60,239, and a 17% poverty rate describe the demographic context.

Cite this page

All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.

Congressional District 8, Tennessee — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cd/4708/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.

License: CC BY 4.0

Frequently asked questions

How did Congressional District 8, Tennessee vote in 2024?

In 2024, Congressional District 8, Tennessee voted Republican by 26.5 points (R+27), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 340,487 votes cast, 122,763 went Democratic and 213,152 went Republican.

What is Congressional District 8, Tennessee's political archetype?

Akashic classifies Congressional District 8, Tennessee as a "Old Confederacy" district based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the district has voted Democratic 23 times, Republican 10 times, and other 1 times.

When did Congressional District 8, Tennessee last vote Democratic?

The most recent presidential election in which Congressional District 8, Tennessee voted Democratic was 2000.

How many people live in Congressional District 8, Tennessee?

Congressional District 8, Tennessee has a population of 849,325 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.

What is the median household income in Congressional District 8, Tennessee?

Median household income in Congressional District 8, Tennessee is $60,239 — below the national median of $80,734. The Tennessee state median is $63,726.

What is the political history of Congressional District 8, Tennessee?

Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Congressional District 8, Tennessee from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 23 went Democratic and 10 went Republican. The district's archetype — "Old Confederacy" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.

Tennessee 8th Congressional District voted Democratic for a century; it now votes Republican by 27 points.

Key facts

Demographics

Frequently asked questions