| State: | Louisiana |
| District Number: | 1 |
| Image Caption: | Interactive map of district boundaries |
| Representative: | Steve Scalise |
| Party: | Republican |
| Residence: | Jefferson |
| Distribution Ref: | [1] |
| Percent Urban: | 86.02 |
| Percent Rural: | 13.98 |
| Population: | 770,713[2] |
| Population Year: | 2023 |
| Median Income: | $72,467[3] |
| Percent White: | 67.0 |
| Percent Hispanic: | 12.0 |
| Percent Black: | 13.0 |
| Percent Asian: | 2.4 |
| Percent Native American: | 1.1 |
| Percent More Than One Race: | 4.0 |
| Percent Other Race: | 0.5 |
| Cpvi: | R+23[4] |
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. It covers most of New Orleans' suburbs, as well as a sliver of New Orleans itself.
The district is currently represented by Republican House majority leader Steve Scalise. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of R+23, it is the most Republican district in Louisiana.[4]
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 1983 through 2013. Overall, the 1st congressional district has become a very safe district for the Republican Party.[5] 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.[6] 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 previously held by former governor Bobby Jindal, who was elected after David Vitter retired to run for the U.S. Senate. Republicans have held the seat since 1977. That year Bob Livingston won a special election after Richard A. 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.
| Election results from presidential races | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Office | Results | |
| 2000 | President | Bush 67–31% | |
| 2004 | President | Bush 71–28% | |
| 2008 | President | McCain 73–26% | |
| 2012 | President | Romney 71–27% | |
| 2016 | President | Trump 69–27% | |
| 2020 | President | Trump 68–30% | |
| Member | Party | Years | Cong ress | Electoral history | District Location | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District created March 4, 1823 | ||||||||
| align=left rowspan=2 | Edward Livingston | Democratic-Republican | nowrap | March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825 | Elected in 1822. Re-elected in 1824. Re-elected in 1826. Retired to run for U.S. Senator. | 1823–1833 Ascension, Assumption, Saint Charles, Saint John, Lafourche, Orleans, Saint Bernard, Saint James, and Terrebonne parishes | ||
| Jacksonian | nowrap | March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1829 | ||||||
Edward Douglass White Sr. | Anti-Jacksonian | nowrap | March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1833 | Elected in 1828. Re-elected in 1830. Re-elected in 1832. Retired to run for governor and resigned when elected. | ||||
| nowrap | March 4, 1833 – November 15, 1834 | 1833–1843 | ||||||
| Vacant | nowrap | November 15, 1834 – December 1, 1834 | ||||||
| align=left rowspan=2 | Henry Johnson | Anti-Jacksonian | nowrap | December 1, 1834 – March 3, 1837 | Elected to finish White's term. Also elected to the next full term. Re-elected in 1836. Retired to run for Governor of Louisiana. | |||
| Whig | nowrap | March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1839 | ||||||
| align=left | Edward Douglass White Sr. | Whig | nowrap | March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1843 | Elected in 1838. Re-elected in 1840. Retired. | |||
| align=left | John Slidell | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1843 – November 10, 1845 | Elected in 1842. Re-elected in 1844. Resigned. | 1843–1853 | ||
| Vacant | nowrap | November 10, 1845 – January 29, 1846 | ||||||
| align=left | Emile La Sére | Democratic | nowrap | January 29, 1846 – March 3, 1851 | Elected to finish Slidell's term. Re-elected in 1846. Re-elected in 1848. Retired. | |||
| align=left | Louis St. Martin | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853 | Elected in 1850. Retired. | |||
| align=left | William Dunbar | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855 | Elected in 1852. Lost re-election. | 1853–1863 Plaquemines and Saint Bernard parishes, as well as the portion of Orleans Parish on the right (west) bank of the Mississippi River and on the left (east) bank below Canal Street in the city of New Orleans | ||
| align=left | George Eustis Jr. | Know Nothing | nowrap | March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1859 | Elected in 1854. Re-elected in 1856. Retired. | |||
| align=left | J. E. Bouligny | Know Nothing | nowrap | December 3, 1859 – March 3, 1861 | Elected in 1859. Bouligny opposed Louisiana's secession and remained in Washington, D.C. during the Civil War. He never retook residency in Louisiana. | |||
| Vacant | nowrap | March 4, 1861 – February 17, 1863 | Civil War | |||||
| align=left | Benjamin Flanders | Union | nowrap | February 17, 1863 – March 3, 1863 | Elected in 1862. Retired. | |||
| Vacant | nowrap | March 3, 1863 – July 18, 1868 | Civil War–Louisiana under occupation | 1863–1873 | ||||
| align=left | Jacob Hale Sypher | Republican | nowrap | July 18, 1868 – March 3, 1869 | Elected to finish the vacant term. Term expired during election contest. | |||
| Vacant | nowrap | 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 | Elected to finish the vacant term. Re-elected in 1870. Re-elected in 1872. Lost re-election. | |||||
| 1873–1883 | ||||||||
| align=left | Effingham Lawrence | Democratic | nowrap | March 3, 1875 – March 3, 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. | |||
| align=left | Randall Lee Gibson | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883 | Elected in 1874. Re-elected in 1876. Re-elected in 1878. Re-elected in 1880. Retired to run for U.S. senator. | |||
| align=left | Carleton Hunt | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885 | Elected in 1882. Retired. | 1883–1893 | ||
| align=left | Louis St. Martin | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1887 | Elected in 1884. Retired. | |||
| align=left | Theodore Stark Wilkinson | Democratic | nowrap | March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1891 | Elected in 1886. Re-elected in 1888. Retired. | |||
Adolph Meyer | Democratic | March 4, 1891 – March 8, 1908 | Elected in 1890. Re-elected in 1892. Re-elected in 1894. Re-elected in 1896. Re-elected in 1898. Re-elected in 1900. Re-elected in 1902. Re-elected in 1904. Re-elected in 1906. Died. | |||||
| 1893–1903 | ||||||||
| 1903–1913 | ||||||||
| Vacant | nowrap | March 8, 1908 – November 3, 1908 | ||||||
Albert Estopinal | Democratic | November 3, 1908 – April 28, 1919 | Elected to finish Meyer's term. Also elected to the next full term. Re-elected in 1910. Re-elected in 1912. Re-elected in 1914. Re-elected in 1916. Re-elected in 1918. Died. | |||||
| 1913–1923 | ||||||||
| Vacant | nowrap | April 28, 1919 – June 5, 1919 | ||||||
James O'Connor | Democratic | June 5, 1919 – March 3, 1931 | Elected to finish Estopinal's term. Re-elected in 1920. Re-elected in 1922. Re-elected in 1924. Re-elected in 1926. Re-elected in 1928. Lost renomination. | |||||
| 1923–1933 | ||||||||
Joachim O. Fernandez | Democratic | March 4, 1931 – January 3, 1941 | Elected in 1930. Re-elected in 1932. Re-elected in 1934. Re-elected in 1936. Re-elected in 1938. Lost renomination. | |||||
| 1933–1943 | ||||||||
Felix Edward Hébert (New Orleans) | Democratic | January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1977 | Elected in 1940. Re-elected in 1942. Re-elected in 1944. Re-elected in 1946. Re-elected in 1948. Re-elected in 1950. Re-elected in 1952. Re-elected in 1954. Re-elected in 1956. Re-elected in 1958. Re-elected in 1960. Re-elected in 1964. Re-elected in 1966. Re-elected in 1968. Re-elected in 1970. Re-elected in 1972. Re-elected in 1974. Retired. | |||||
| 1943–1953 | ||||||||
| 1953–1963 | ||||||||
| 1963–1973 | ||||||||
| 1973–1983 | ||||||||
| align=left | Richard A. Tonry (Arabi) | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1977 – May 4, 1977 | Elected in 1976. Resigned after conviction for vote-buying. | |||
| Vacant | nowrap | May 4, 1977 – August 27, 1977 | ||||||
Bob Livingston (New Orleans 1977–83; Metairie 1984–99) | Republican | August 27, 1977 – March 1, 1999 | Elected to finish Tonry's term. Re-elected in 1978. Re-elected in 1980. Re-elected in 1982. Re-elected in 1984. Re-elected in 1986. Re-elected in 1988. Re-elected in 1990. Re-elected in 1992. Re-elected in 1994. Re-elected in 1996. Re-elected in 1998. Resigned following revelations of his extramarital affair. | |||||
| 1983–1993 | ||||||||
| 1993–2003 | ||||||||
| Vacant | nowrap | March 2, 1999 – May 29, 1999 | ||||||
David Vitter (Metairie) | Republican | May 29, 1999 – January 3, 2005 | Elected to finish Livingston's term. Re-elected in 2000. Re-elected in 2002. Retired to run for U.S. senator. | |||||
| 2003–2013 | ||||||||
| align=left | Bobby Jindal (Kenner) | Republican | nowrap | January 3, 2005 – January 14, 2008 | Elected in 2004. Re-elected in 2006. Resigned to become Governor of Louisiana. | |||
| Vacant | nowrap | January 14, 2008 – May 7, 2008 | ||||||
Steve Scalise (Jefferson) | Republican | May 7, 2008 – present | Elected to finish Jindal's term. Re-elected later in 2008. Re-elected in 2010. Re-elected in 2012. Re-elected in 2014. Re-elected in 2016. Re-elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020. Re-elected in 2022. Re-elected in 2024. | |||||
| 2013–2023 | ||||||||
| 2023–2025 | ||||||||
| 2025–present --> | ||||||||