[3] Adjacent to Washington, D.C., the 8th district takes in many of the city’s wealthiest inner-ring suburbs, including Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Potomac.

Those above-average numbers are largely due to the substantial presence of the federal government in nearby Washington, where thousands of the 8th district’s residents commute to work on a daily basis.

[4] Almost 40% of the district's residents are immigrants, with the largest numbers coming from El Salvador, Ethiopia, India, China, Korea, Guatemala, and Peru.

During redistricting after the 2000 census, the Democratic-dominated Maryland legislature sought to unseat then-incumbent Republican Connie Morella[citation needed].

The final redistricting plan was less ambitious, restoring an eastern, heavily Democratic spur of Montgomery County removed in the 1990 redistricting to the 8th District[citation needed] (encompassing nearly all of the area "inside the Beltway"), as well as adding an adjacent portion from heavily Democratic Prince George's County.