The Blue Dog Coalition is a caucus in the United States House of Representatives comprising centrist members from the Democratic Party. The caucus was founded as a group of conservative Democrats in 1995 in response to defeats in the 1994 elections. Historically,the Blue Dog Coalition has been fiscally and socially conservative,representing the center-right in the Democratic Party. The modern Blue Dog Coalition remains the most conservative grouping of Democrats in the House,broadly adopting socially liberal and fiscally conservative policies and promoting fiscal restraint. Blue Dogs are mostly elected in Republican-leaning districts.
The Solid South or the Southern bloc was the electoral voting bloc of the states of the Southern United States for issues that were regarded as particularly important to the interests of Democrats in those states. The Southern bloc existed between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During this period,the Democratic Party overwhelmingly controlled southern state legislatures,and most local,state and federal officeholders in the South were Democrats. During the late 1800s and early 1900s,Southern Democrats disenfranchised blacks in all Southern states,along with a few non-Southern states doing the same as well. This resulted essentially in a one-party system,in which a candidate's victory in Democratic primary elections was tantamount to election to the office itself. White primaries were another means that the Democrats used to consolidate their political power,excluding blacks from voting in primaries.
John Gayle was the 7th Governor of Alabama,a United States representative from Alabama,a justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama,the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.
Southern Democrats are affiliates of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the Southern United States. Most of them voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by holding the longest filibuster in American Senate history while Democrats in non-Southern states supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After 1994 the Republicans typically won most elections in the South.
John McKee Spratt Jr. is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 5th congressional district from 1983 to 2011. The 5th Congressional District covers all or part of 14 counties in north-central South Carolina. The largest cities are Rock Hill and Sumter. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Albert William Watson was an American politician,a Democrat-turned-Republican state and U.S. representative from South Carolina. He is best known for his losing 1970 campaign for governor of South Carolina,which has been described as the last high-profile,openly segregationist campaign in American politics.
James Hayes Shofner Cooper is an American lawyer,businessman,professor,and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Tennessee's 5th congressional district from 2003 to 2023. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition,and represented Tennessee's 4th congressional district from 1983 to 1995. His district included all of Nashville. He chaired the United States House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces of the House Armed Services Committee,and sat on the Committee on Oversight and Reform,United States House Committee on the Budget,and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,more committees than any other member of Congress. At the end of his tenure,he was also the dean of Tennessee's congressional delegation. Cooper is the third-longest serving member of Congress ever from Tennessee,after Jimmy Quillen and B. Carroll Reece.
Michael F. Doyle Jr. is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district,serving from 1995 to 2022. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district was based in Pittsburgh and included most of Allegheny County.
In American politics,a conservative Democrat is a member of the Democratic Party with more conservative views than most Democrats. Traditionally,conservative Democrats have been elected to office from the Southern states,rural areas,the Rust Belt,and the Midwest. In 2019,the Pew Research Center found that 14% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters identify as conservative or very conservative,38% identify as moderate,and 47% identify as liberal or very liberal.
The 37th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government,consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington,D.C. from March 4,1861,to March 4,1863,during the first two years of Abraham Lincoln's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1850 United States census.
Ralph Warren Norman Jr. is an American real estate developer and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 5th congressional district since 2017. His district includes most of the South Carolina side of the Charlotte metropolitan area,along with outer portions of the Upstate and Midlands. A member of the Republican Party,Norman served as the South Carolina state representative for the 48th district from 2005 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2017.
The 5th congressional district of South Carolina is a congressional district in northern South Carolina bordering North Carolina. The district includes all of Cherokee,Chester,Fairfield,Kershaw,Lancaster,Lee,Union and York counties and parts of Newberry,Spartanburg and Sumter counties. Outside the rapidly growing cities of Rock Hill,Fort Mill,and Lake Wylie the district is mostly rural and agricultural. The district borders were contracted from some of the easternmost counties in the 2012 redistricting.
George Washington Murray,born into slavery in South Carolina,gained education and worked as a teacher,farmer and politician. After serving as chairman of the Sumter County Republican Party,he was elected in the 1890s as a United States congressman from South Carolina. He was the only black member in the 53rd and 54th Congresses. Because South Carolina passed a constitution in 1895 that effectively disenfranchised blacks and crippled the Republican Party,Murray was the last Republican elected in the state for nearly 100 years. The next Republican,elected in 1980,was the result of a realignment of voters and parties.
Richard Irvine Manning I was the 50th Governor of South Carolina from 1824 to 1826 and was later a Representative in the United States Congress.
Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era in the United States,especially in the Southern United States,was based on a series of laws,new constitutions,and practices in the South that were deliberately used to prevent black citizens from registering to vote and voting. These measures were enacted by the former Confederate states at the turn of the 20th century. Efforts were also made in Maryland,Kentucky,and Oklahoma. Their actions were designed to thwart the objective of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,ratified in 1870,which prohibited states from depriving voters of their voting rights on the basis of race. The laws were frequently written in ways to be ostensibly non-racial on paper,but were implemented in ways that selectively suppressed black voters apart from other voters.
The 1964 United States presidential election in Alabama was held on November 3,1964. Alabama voters chose ten representatives,or electors,to the Electoral College,who voted for President and Vice-President. In Alabama,voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate,as in the other states.
The 1968 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 5,1968,and was part of the 1968 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives,or electors to the Electoral College,who voted for president and vice president.
The 1940 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 5,1940. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1940 United States presidential election. State voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College,which selected the president and vice president.
The 1940 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 5,1940,as part of the 1940 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose 11 representatives,or electors,to the Electoral College,who voted for president and vice president. In Alabama,voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate,as in the other states.
The For the People Act,introduced as H.R. 1,is a bill in the United States Congress intended to expand voting rights,change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics,ban partisan gerrymandering,and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders.
