Arkansas's 1st congressional district
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.
| Arkansas's 1st congressional district | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Representative |
| ||
| Area | 17,521 sq mi (45,380 km2) | ||
| Distribution |
| ||
| Population (2019) | 719,048[1] | ||
| Median household income | $43,193[1] | ||
| Ethnicity |
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| Occupation |
| ||
| Cook PVI | R+17[2] | ||
It is currently represented by Republican Rick Crawford.
Geography
2003–2013
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 | Bush 51 - 45% |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | President | Bush 54 - 44% |
| 2008 | President | McCain 59 - 38% |
| 2012 | President | Romney 61 - 36% |
| 2016 | President | Trump 65 - 30% |
| 2020 | President | Trump 69 - 28% |
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.
Recent election results
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
| 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
| 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
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Robert Marion Berry* | 124,304 | 100% | ||
| Majority | 100% | ||||
| Total votes | 124,304 | 100% | |||
| Democratic hold | |||||
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
| 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
| 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
| 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.
| 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 | ||||
2020
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Rick Crawford (incumbent) | 237,596 | 100.0 | |
| Total votes | 237,596 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Arkansas, 2010
References
- Specific
- "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.
- Welch, Melanie. "William Henderson Cate (1839–1899)". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- 2016 election results
- General
- 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