Louisiana's 1st congressional district

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Louisiana's 1st congressional district
Current Representative		Steve Scalise (R)
Area	2,402 mi²
Distribution	79.66% urban, 20.34% rural
Population (2000)	638,355
Median income	$40,948
Ethnicity	82.6% White, 12.9% Black, 1.5% Asian, 4.7% Hispanic, 0.3% Native American, 1.2% other
Cook PVI	R+24

Louisiana's 1st congressional district comprises mostly land on the North Shore and South Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, although it also contains areas west of Lake Pontchartrain. The district includes some or all of the following Louisiana parishes: Washington, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Jefferson, Orleans and St. Charles. It includes the cities of Hammond and Slidell and most of the western suburbs of New Orleans that include Metairie and Kenner, along with a small portion of the city itself.

The seat was most recently held by former Representative and current Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican. The Republicans have held the seat since 1977, when Bob Livingston won a special election after Richard Alvin Tonry, who won the seat in the 1976 general election, was forced to resign the seat and lost the Democratic primary in the special election.

Republican Steve Scalise represents the district.^[1][2] The seat was vacant, since Representative Jindal was sworn in as Governor of Louisiana on January 14, 2008. This triggered a special election on May 3 which Scalise won; he was sworn in on May 7.

The African-American population percentage is lowest in the 1st District among the U.S. House electoral districts of Louisiana. Prior to 1974 the 1st District was entirely south of Lake Pontchartrain; as a result of the 1970 census and a concern to ensure the 2nd District as majority African-American, in 1974 the 1st District shed precincts south of the Lake and acquired Saint Tammany Parish, which borders Lake Pontchartrain on the north, from the 6th District. Subsequently the 1st District has acquired Tangipahoa Parish and Washington Parish, both north of the Lake, from the 6th District. Correspondingly the 1st District has shed conservative Saint Bernard Parish and other areas south of the Lake to the 3rd District, but overall the 1st has become a very safe district for the Republican Party.^[3] The number of registered voters north of the Lake is, as of 2008, slightly higher than south of the Lake; but the 1st District has yet to be represented by a resident from north of Lake Pontchartrain.^[4] The reformulation of the 1st District so that it virtually surrounds "the nation's second-largest saltwater lake" has generated a local joke that in the 1st District of Louisiana the voters are outnumbered by the fish.

[edit] Recent election results

[edit] 2000

[edit] 2002

[edit] 2004

[edit] 2006

[edit] 2008

See Louisiana's 1st congressional district special election, 2008

[edit] List of representatives

[edit] 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