Arkansas's 1st congressional district

Arkansas's 1st congressional district
	Rick Crawford; R–Jonesboro
Area	17,521 sq mi (45,380 km2)
Distribution	55.5% rural; 44.5% urban;
Population (2018)	724,622[1]
Median income	$41,553[1]
Ethnicity	80.2% white; 16.6% black; 1.9% Hispanic; 0.9% other; 0.4% Native American; 0.3% Asian;
Occupation	48.8% White-collar; 35% Blue-collar; 16.2% Gray-collar;
Cook PVI	R+17[2]

Arkansas's 1st congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in eastern Arkansas that elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives.

It is currently represented by Republican Rick Crawford.

Geography

2003–2013

The district from 2003 to 2013

Before the 2010 census, the 1st district represented portions of northeastern Arkansas, encompassing the counties of Arkansas, Baxter, Clay, Cleburne, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Fulton, Greene, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Lee, Lonoke, Mississippi, Monroe, Phillips, Poinsett, Prairie, Randolph, Saint Francis, Searcy, Sharp, Stone, and Woodruff.

2013–2023

The district took in additional counties in the southeastern portion that were part of the 4th district which in turn took the entire eastern Arkansas border. It fully encompasses the counties of Arkansas, Baxter, Chicot, Clay, Cleburne, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Desha, Fulton, Greene, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Lee, Lincoln, Lonoke, Mississippi, Monroe, Phillips, Poinsett, Prairie, Randolph, Saint Francis, Searcy, Sharp, Stone, and Woodruff. The district also encompasses parts of Jefferson county.

Character

The Mississippi Delta has long been home to American industrial agriculture, with cotton, rice and soybeans by far the biggest export from the region. The 1st District covers most of the Arkansas Delta area and stretches as far west to the Ozarks. The farming areas, despite their fertility, are generally poor by national standards, with unemployment and undereducation as some of the greatest problems. Rice farms are the amongst the greatest recipients of federal farming subsidization - and three of the top five subsidy farms in the United States are in the 1st District, receiving over $100 million since 1996.

Some manufacturing has been sited in the region recently, with several auto parts factories being built in Marion and Toyota considering it as the site for its seventh North American plant.

Jonesboro is the largest town, home to a sizable food processing industry with companies such as Nestle and Frito-Lay sited here. Jonesboro is also home to Arkansas State University (ASU)-Jonesboro. While Jonesboro itself sports a Republican trend, along with some of the hill counties, it is balanced by the strong Democratic presence in the African American-dominated Mississippi River Delta.

Until recently, this resulted is a fairly closely divided vote in national politics. However, the district has been swept up in the growing Republican trend in Arkansas. While Al Gore narrowly carried the district in 2000 with 50% of the vote, George W. Bush won the district in 2004. The district swung even more Republican in 2008, giving John McCain 58.69% of the vote while Barack Obama received 38.41% here. The Republican vote has steadily increased since then, culminating in Donald Trump tallying 65 percent of the vote in 2016, his best showing in the state.

Recent election results from statewide races

Year	Office	Results
2000	President	Gore 50 - 48%
2004	President	Bush 52 - 47%
2008	President	McCain 59 - 38%
2012	President	Romney 61 - 36%
2016	President	Trump 65 - 30%

List of members representing the district

The district was created in 1853 after the 1850 United States Census added a second seat to the state. The at-large seat then was split between this district and the second district.

Member	Party	Year	Cong ress	Electoral history
District created		March 4, 1853
Alfred B. Greenwood	Democratic	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1859	33rd 34th 35th	[data unknown/missing]
Thomas C. Hindman	Democratic	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861	36th	[data unknown/missing]
Vacant		March 4, 1861 – June 22, 1868	37th 38th 39th 40th	Civil War and Reconstruction
Logan H. Roots	Republican	June 22, 1868 – March 3, 1871	40th 41st	[data unknown/missing]
James M. Hanks	Democratic	March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873	42nd	[data unknown/missing]
Asa Hodges	Republican	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875	43rd	[data unknown/missing]
Lucien C. Gause	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1879	44th 45th	[data unknown/missing]
Poindexter Dunn	Democratic	March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1889	46th 47th 48th 49th 50th	[data unknown/missing]
William H. Cate	Democratic	March 4, 1889 – March 5, 1890	51st	Lost contested election
Lewis P. Featherstone	Labor	March 5, 1890 – March 3, 1891	51st	Won contested election
William H. Cate	Democratic	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1893	52nd	[data unknown/missing]
Philip D. McCulloch Jr.	Democratic	March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1903	53rd 54th 55th 56th 57th	[data unknown/missing]
Robert B. Macon	Democratic	March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1913	58th 59th 60th 61st 62nd	[data unknown/missing]
Thaddeus H. Caraway	Democratic	March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1921	63rd 64th 65th 66th	[data unknown/missing]
William J. Driver	Democratic	March 4, 1921 – January 3, 1939	67th 68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd 73rd 74th 75th	[data unknown/missing]
Ezekiel C. Gathings	Democratic	January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1969	76th 77th 78th 79th 80th 81st 82nd 83rd 84th 85th 86th 87th 88th 89th 90th	[data unknown/missing]
William Vollie Alexander Jr.	Democratic	January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1993	91st 92nd 93rd 94th 95th 96th 97th 98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd	[data unknown/missing]
Blanche Lincoln	Democratic	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1997	103rd 104th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Marion Berry	Democratic	January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2011	105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Rick Crawford	Republican	January 3, 2011 – present	112th 113th 114th 115th 116th	Incumbent

Recent election results

2002

Arkansas’s 1st Congressional District House Election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert Marion Berry*	129,701	67%
	Republican	Tommy F. Robinson	64,357	33%
Majority			65,344	33%
Total votes			194,058	100.00
	Democratic hold

2004

Arkansas’s 1st Congressional District House Election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert Marion Berry*	162,388	67%
	Republican	Vernon Humphrey	81,556	33%
Majority			80,832	33%
Total votes			243,944	100.00
	Democratic hold

2006

Arkansas’s 1st Congressional District House Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert Marion Berry*	127,577	69%
	Republican	Mickey Stumbaugh	56,611	31%
Majority			70,966	39%
Total votes			184,188	100.00%
	Democratic hold

2008

Arkansas’s 1st Congressional District House Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert Marion Berry*	124,304	100%
Majority				100%
Total votes			124,304	100%
	Democratic hold

2010

Arkansas’s 1st Congressional District House Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rick Crawford	93,224	52%
	Democratic	Chad Causey	78,267	43%
	Green	Ken Adler	8,320	5%
	Write-in	Write-ins	205	0.11%
Majority			14,957	9%
Total votes			180,016	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic

2012

Arkansas’s 1st Congressional District House Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rick Crawford*	138,800	56%
	Democratic	Scott Ellington	96,601	39%
	Libertarian	Jessica Paxton	6,427	3%
	Green	Jacob Holloway	5,015	2%
Majority			42,199	17.10%
Total votes			246,843	100.00%
	Republican hold

2014

Arkansas’s 1st Congressional District House Election, 2014
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rick Crawford*	124,139	63%
	Democratic	Jackie McPherson	63,555	32%
	Libertarian	Brian Scott Willhite	8,562	5%
Majority			60,584	31%
Total votes			196,256	100.00%
	Republican hold

2016

Arkansas’s 1st Congressional District House Election, 2016[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rick Crawford*	183,866	76.28%
	Libertarian	Mark West	57,181	23.72%
Majority			126,685	52.56%
Total votes			241,047	100.00%
	Republican hold

2018

The 2018 election was held on November 6, 2018.

Arkansas' 1st congressional district, 2018
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rick Crawford (incumbent)	138,757	68.9
	Democratic	Chintan Desai	57,907	28.8
	Libertarian	Elvis Presley	4,581	2.3
Total votes			201,245	100.0
	Republican hold

References

"My Congressional District". www.census.gov. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
"Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
2016 election results

Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

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[census-1] "My Congressional District". www.census.gov. Retrieved December 24, 2019.

[Cook-2] "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.

[3] 2016 election results