 The 5th district is an approximate combination of the former 5th and 6th districts before the 2000 Census.The district was designed as the result of a compromise among the redistricting committee as an evenly divided territory into which a Republican and a Democratic incumbent were both drawn.The new 5th largely maintained the distinguishing feature of the old 5th – the I-84 corridor connecting Danbury to Waterbury, and then stretching southeastward to Meriden.