Arkansas's 1st congressional district

"AR 1" redirects here. For the state highway, see Arkansas Highway 1.

Arkansas's 1st congressional district
Current Representative		Rick Crawford (R–Jonesboro)
Area	17,521 mi² (45,379 km²)
Distribution	44.5% urban, 55.5% rural
Population (2000)	668,360
Median income	$28,940
Ethnicity	80.2% White, 16.6% Black, 0.3% Asian, 1.9% Hispanic, 0.4% Native American, 0.9% other
Occupation	35% blue collar, 48.8% white collar, 16.2% gray collar
Cook PVI	R+7

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

It is currently represented by Republican Rick Crawford.

The district from 2003 to 2013

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. The result is a fairly closely divided vote in national politics. 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.

Voting

Election results from statewide races
Year	Office	Results
2012	President	Romney 61 - 36%
2008	President	McCain 59 - 38%
2004	President	Bush 52 - 47%
2000	President	Gore 50 - 48%

List of representatives

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.

Representative	Party	Year	Notes
District created		March 4, 1853
Alfred B. Greenwood	Democratic	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1859
Thomas C. Hindman	Democratic	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861
Civil War and Reconstruction
Logan H. Roots	Republican	June 22, 1868 – March 3, 1871
James M. Hanks	Democratic	March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873
Asa Hodges	Republican	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875
Lucien C. Gause	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1879
Poindexter Dunn	Democratic	March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1889
William H. Cate	Democratic	March 4, 1889 – March 5, 1890	Lost contested election
Lewis P. Featherstone	Labor	March 5, 1890 – March 3, 1891	Won contested election
William H. Cate	Democratic	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1893
Philip D. McCulloch, Jr.	Democratic	March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1903
Robert B. Macon	Democratic	March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1913
Thaddeus H. Caraway	Democratic	March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1921
William J. Driver	Democratic	March 4, 1921 – January 3, 1939
Ezekiel C. Gathings	Democratic	January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1969
Bill Alexander, Jr.	Democratic	January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1993
Blanche Lincoln	Democratic	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1997
Marion Berry	Democratic	January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2011
Rick Crawford	Republican	January 5, 2011 – Present	Incumbent

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Arkansas, 2010

References

• 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