POLITICO August 14, 2013 America's shifting suburban battlegrounds By: Alan Berube and Elizabeth Kneebone America is defined by its suburbs. Since the mid-20th century — when highways, the GI Bill and the Federal Housing Administration opened up a new residential frontier for the Baby Boom generation — suburbs have served as the backdrop for the middle-class American dream. Not surprisingly, suburbs define our politics, too. While city dwellers overwhelmingly vote Democratic, and residents of small towns and rural areas vote for Republicans by large margins, suburbs are the quintessential political battlegrounds. In the 113th Congress, nearly half of all House districts,199 of 435, are essentially suburban — a majority of their populations live in the suburbs of one of the nation's 100 largest metro areas. They are represented almost equally by Republicans (101 districts) and Democrats (98 districts). As the suburbs go, so goes political control of Congress. But now suburbs are helping define another American phenomenon: poverty. Over the past decade, America's major suburbs have become home to the largest and fastest- growing poor population in the country. Between 2000 and 2011, the number of poor residents in suburbia grew by almost two-thirds, or 64 percent — more than double the Page I 1 of 3 EFTA00591891