Louisiana's 1st congressional district

Louisiana's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district comprises land from the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain south to the Mississippi River delta.

The district is currently represented by Republican Steve Scalise.

History

Prior to 1974, the 1st Congressional District was entirely south of Lake Pontchartrain. As a result of population changes reflected in the 1970 U.S. Census and a concern to ensure that the 2nd Congressional District was majority African American, the district was redrawn to include the Northshore. This was done to comply with the Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965 to enforce constitutional rights of minorities in voting, including the opportunity to elect a representative of their choosing and to redistrict after censuses.

In 1974, the state legislature redefined the 1st Congressional District, dropping its precincts south of the lake and adding St. Tammany Parish, which borders Lake Pontchartrain on the north, from the 6th Congressional District. Subsequently, the 1st Congressional District acquired Tangipahoa and Washington parishes, both north of the lake, from the 6th Congressional District.

Correspondingly, the 1st Congressional District shed conservative St. Bernard Parish and other areas south of the lake to the 3rd Congressional District from 1984 through 2013. Overall, the 1st Congressional District has become a very safe district for the Republican Party.^[2] Before the 1960s, it was controlled by Democrats, but conservative whites realigned with the Republican Party.

The number of registered voters north of the lake is, as of 2008, slightly higher than south of the lake; however, the 1st Congressional District has yet to be represented by a resident from north of Lake Pontchartrain.^[3] The reformulation of the 1st Congressional District so that it virtually surrounds "the nation's second-largest saltwater lake" has generated a local joke that in the 1st Congressional District of Louisiana, the voters are outnumbered by the fish.

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

From 2003 to 2013, the district comprised mostly land on the North Shore and South Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, although it also contained areas west of Lake Pontchartrain. The district included some or all of the following parishes: Washington, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Jefferson, Orleans and St. Charles. It also included the cities of Hammond and Slidell and most of the western suburbs of New Orleans, including Metairie and Kenner, along with a small portion of the city itself. The district had the lowest percentage of African-American residents among the state's six-district Congressional delegation.

In 2013, St. Bernard and neighboring Plaquemines Parishes were returned to the First District after nearly 30 years in the Third. The First also picked up much of Lafourche Parish and the southernmost portion of Terrebonne Parish for the first time.

List of representatives

Representative	Party	Years	Electoral history
District created March 4, 1823
Edward Livingston	Jacksonian D-R	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
	Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1829
Edward Douglass White Sr.	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1829 – ?????, 1834	Resigned
Vacant		??????, 1834 – ??????, 1834
Henry Johnson	Anti-Jacksonian	????, 1834 – March 3, 1837	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
	Whig	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1839
Edward Douglass White Sr.	Whig	March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1843	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
John Slidell	Democratic	March 4, 1843 – November 10, 1845	Resigned
Emile La Sére	Democratic	January 29, 1846 – March 3, 1851	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Louis St. Martin	Democratic	March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
William Dunbar	Democratic	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
George Eustis Jr.	Know Nothing	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1859	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
J. E. Bouligny	Know Nothing	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861	Bouligny opposed Louisiana's secession and remained in Washington during the American Civil War. He never retook residency in Louisiana.
Vacant		March 4, 1861 – December 3, 1862	(Civil War)
Benjamin Flanders	Unionist	December 3, 1862 – March 3, 1863	Remained seated for his term during War
Vacant		March 3, 1863 – July 18, 1868	(Civil War – Louisiana under occupation)
Jacob Hale Sypher	Republican	July 18, 1868 – March 3, 1869	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Vacant		March 3, 1869 – November 7, 1870	Contested election of Louis St. Martin and Jacob Hale Sypher, House decided neither candidate entitled to seat
Jacob Hale Sypher	Republican	November 7, 1870 – March 3, 1875	Sypher's 1872 re-election was successfully contested by Effingham Lawrence: Sypher lost, but only after the original returns were certified in his favor; after protracted court intervention, Lawrence was declared elected, but just one day (March 4, 1875) remained in the 1873-1875 term, and in the meantime Lawrence had lost the 1874 election to Democrat Randall Lee Gibson.
Effingham Lawrence	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 4, 1875	Successfully contested Sypher's election, then retired after one day in office—the shortest service ever by a member of the House of Representatives.
Randall Lee Gibson	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883	Resigned from House on election to U.S. Senate.
Carleton Hunt	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Louis St. Martin	Democratic	March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1887	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Theodore Stark Wilkinson	Democratic	March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1891	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Adolph Meyer	Democratic	March 4, 1891 – March 8, 1908	Died
Vacant		March 8, 1908 – November 3, 1908
Albert Estopinal	Democratic	November 3, 1908 – April 28, 1919	Died
Vacant		April 28, 1919 – June 5, 1919
James O'Connor	Democratic	June 5, 1919 – March 3, 1931	Lost renomination
Joachim O. Fernandez	Democratic	March 4, 1931 – January 3, 1941	Lost renomination
Felix Edward Hébert	Democratic	January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1977	Retired
Richard Alvin Tonry	Democratic	January 3, 1977 – May 4, 1977	Resigned after conviction for vote buying
Vacant		May 4, 1977 – August 27, 1977
Bob Livingston	Republican	August 27, 1977 – March 1, 1999	Resigned
Vacant		March 2, 1999 – May 29, 1999
David Vitter	Republican	May 29, 1999 – January 3, 2005	Retired to run for U.S. Senator
Bobby Jindal	Republican	January 3, 2005 – January 14, 2008	Resigned to become Governor
Vacant		January 14, 2008 – May 3, 2008
Steve Scalise	Republican	May 3, 2008 – Present	First elected to finish Jindal's term

Recent Election Results

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

Historical district boundaries

2003 - 2013

See also

• Louisiana's congressional districts
• List of United States congressional districts

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

Coordinates: 29°39′59″N 89°53′34″W / 29.66639°N 89.89278°W / 29.66639; -89.89278