Like the rest of the commonwealth, Southwest Virginia is represented by Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in the United States Senate. In the House of Representatives, by the narrowest and almost to the largest definition of Southwest Virginia, representation falls largely under Representative Morgan Griffith of the 9th Congressional District. In 2010, Griffith defeated long-time representative Rick Boucher. Boucher had previously been a long term representative of the region in Congress, spending more than twenty-four years in office as a Democrat. His predecessor was William C. Wampler, a Republican, who had served a nearly equally long term of over eighteen years prior to his political defeat by Boucher. Republican Ben Cline of Rockbridge County represents the 6th Congressional District which also covers Lynchburg and much of the Shenandoah Valley. Republican Bob Goodlatte represented the 6th district for 26 years before retiring in 2019. Since most of Southwest Virginia has experienced little to no population growth in recent decades, the 9th district has begun to encroach into areas previously in the 5th and 6th districts.