| Louisiana's 1st congressional district | |
|---|---|
.svg)  Interactive map of district boundaries since January 3, 2025 | |
| Representative | |
| Distribution |
|
| Population (2024) | 798,569[2] |
| Median household income | $79,823[2] |
| Ethnicity |
|
| Cook PVI | R+19[3] |
Louisiana's 1st congressional district is acongressional district in theU.S. state ofLouisiana. The district comprises land from the northern shore ofLake Pontchartrain south to theMississippi River Delta. It covers most ofNew Orleans' suburbs, as well as a sliver of New Orleans itself.
The district is currently represented byRepublicanHouse majority leaderSteve Scalise.
Since at least the 1840s, the 1st congressional district has been anchored in and around most of theGreater New Orleans area south ofLake Pontchartrain, with the district being anchored in most of the city itself, as well as the adjoining parishes ofSt. Bernard andPlaquemines, during most of the tenure ofF. Edward Hébert, a former journalist forThe Times-Picayune who represented the district for a record 18 terms from 1941 until his retirement in 1977, eventually serving as Chairman of theHouse Armed Services Committee from 1971 to 1975. While largely a Democratic district for most of its existence, with Louisiana being part of theSolid South during this era, the district eventually became friendlier to Republicans as many conservative Democrats began to increasingly vote Republican (or at least against the Democratic presidential nominee), with the district even giving a plurality of the vote toGeorge Wallace in 1968.
In the 1970s round of redistricting, theLouisiana State Legislature (in complying with theVoting Rights Act of 1965, particularly the opportunity of racial minorities to elect a representative of their choosing) redrew the neighboring2nd District, which previously contained most of the western parts of New Orleans as well as the Westbank suburbs (on the west side of theMississippi River, hence the term) in neighboringJefferson Parish, into a majority African American district. In exchange, the 1st District would now extend to theNorthshore area (theFlorida Parishes north of Lake Pontchartrain) for the first time, addingSt. Tammany Parish which had been amongst the first areas of Louisiana to turn Republican in the post-World War II era. Accordingly, the new 1st gave Republican PresidentRichard Nixon over 70 percent of the vote in his 1972 reelection, though it did give a narrow majority to DemocratJimmy Carter in 1976. That same year, longtime incumbent Hébert retired from Congress, and was succeeded by State Representative and fellow DemocratRichard Tonry, who narrowly won the election that year over Republican assistant state attorney generalBob Livingston.
However, Tonry would quickly become the subject of a federal corruption investigation, including allegations of ballot stuffing in St. Bernard Parish as well as illegal campaign contributions, eventually pleading guilty, serving a six-month prison sentence and resigning from Congress after only four months in May 1977. In the ensuing special election, Livingston would defeat Democratic State RepresentativeRon Faucheux (who himself defeated Tonry in his party's primary for the special election), becoming the first Republican to represent the district as well as a large portion of New Orleans since Reconstruction; the district would also narrowly vote for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election.
In the 1980s round of redistricting, the district shed virtually all of its precincts outside ofNew Orleans and Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes, with a mid-decade redistricting in 1984 making the district even more Republican. In particular, several central and eastern portions of New Orleans that were becoming increasingly African American and Democratic (including in particularNew Orleans East, which would be adversely affected by the1980s oil glut and the ensuing demographic changes that affected property values and crime rates there) were moved to the itself majority African American 2nd District. In exchange, the 1st added several heavily Republican areas of Jefferson Parish from the3rd District (including the East Bank suburbs ofMetairie andKenner, as well as most of the Westbank suburbs includingTerrytown,Estelle andAvondale) that not unlike St. Tammany Parish experienced a similar trend towards the GOP after World War II. From this newly redrawn district, Livingston (who himself would relocate from New Orleans to Metairie following the 1984 redistricting) would go on to win by margins exceeding 80 percent or higher, doing so in some cases unopposed, as the 1st became the most heavily Republican district in Louisiana and one of the most heavily Republican districts in the nation.[4] President Reagan won more than 77 percent of the vote in the district in 1984, followed by 71 percent in 1988 forGeorge H. W. Bush, who himself accepted his party's presidential nomination at theRepublican National Convention held that year in New Orleans at theLouisiana Superdome.
In the 1990s round of redistricting, the district expanded deeper into the Florida Parishes, gainingWashington and most ofTangipahoa parishes from the 6th District, in addition to the same core of Saint Tammany Parish, most of Jefferson Parish and a northwestern portion of New Orleans centered on theLakeview neighborhood (long considered one of the more Republican areas of the heavily Democratic city) associated with the district since the 1970s. During this decade, Livingston rose to become Chairman of the powerfulHouse Appropriations Committee following theRepublican takeover of the House of Representatives following the 1994 elections, and in 1996 the 1st District would be the only district in Louisiana to vote forBob Dole (who would also be the last Republican to lose Louisiana in a presidential election as of 2025). After Livingston resigned from Congress in 1999 following a short-lived bid for Speaker of the House that unraveled upon revelations of an extramarital affair from years past, the district would remain in Republican hands, electing State RepresentativeDavid Vitter to succeed Livingston.
In the 2000s round of redistricting, the district would become equally divided on both sides of Lake Pontchartrain, connected only by theLake Pontchartrain Causeway, with the slightly larger northern half consisting of theFlorida Parishes of St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington and the southern half consisting of most of Jefferson Parish, along with the Lakeview area of New Orleans carried over from the previous district and a section ofSt. Charles Parish extending as far west asDestrehan. With the smallest percentage of African Americans amongst Louisiana's then-delegation of seven congressional districts, the district was also the most Republican district in the state, giving over 70 percent of the vote toGeorge W. Bush in 2004 and 72 percent toJohn McCain in 2008. Two of the district's representatives would eventually move up to higher office, with Vitter becoming the first Republican to be popularly elected to the Senate from Louisiana (and the first Republican Senator from the state since Reconstruction) in2004 and Vitter's successorBobby Jindal (also a Republican) being elected Governor of Louisiana in2007. Jindal's successor, Republican Steve SenatorSteve Scalise, would be elected in 2008 to succeed Jindal.
In 2012, following the 2010s round of redistricting which saw Louisiana lose a congressional seat due to population declines in the wake ofHurricane Katrina (which caused massive flooding and population displacement in the Greater New Orleans area), the district shed Washington and most of Tangipahoa parishes in the Northshore, while gaining back St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes for the first time since the early 1980s, and also gaining most ofLafourche Parish and southernTerrebonne Parish (historically associated with the previous 3rd District, which had been eliminated and combined with the old7th district) for the first time. Following the 2012 election, Scalise would be elected as Chairman of the powerfulRepublican Study Committee, eventually rising toHouse Majority Whip after the 2014 elections, becoming House Minority Whip after the GOP lost control of the House in the 2018 elections, and eventually House Majority Leader after the 2022 elections.
Throughout Scalise's time as the district's representative, the district has remained solidly Republican, giving more than two-thirds of the vote toDonald Trump in all three of his presidential elections between 2016 and 2024, with unprecedented Republican support in more rural areas of the district balancing out slight underperformances in more historically Republican suburban parts of the district during the Trump era. The district also voted twice against DemocratJohn Bel Edwards (who hails from just outside the district in Tangipahoa Parish) in both his successful election as Governor in 2015 and his reelection in 2019, with the 1st being the only district in Louisiana to vote for Edwards' Republican challenger, then-U.S. Senator and former 1st District representativeDavid Vitter, in the former election.
As of the 2020s round of redistricting, as well as a subsequent mid-decade redistricting that resulted in a second majority-African American district being created before the 2024 elections, the district remains about equally divided on both sides of Lake Pontchartrain, with the northern portion extending from all of St. Tammany Parish to southern portions of Tangipahoa,Livingston andAscension parishes (the latter two located in theBaton Rouge metropolitan area) including as far west asSorrento, and the southern portion split between Scalise's political base in the East Bank suburbs west of New Orleans on one end and the southeastern corner of the state across most of St. Bernard, Plaquemines and Lafourche parishes. Despite this fact, the district in its latter-day iteration has yet to be represented by a resident from north of Lake Pontchartrain.[5] 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 the voters in the district are outnumbered by the fish.
For the119th and successive Congresses (based on the districts drawn following a 2023 court order), the district contains all or portions of the following parishes and communities.[6][7]
Jefferson Parish(11)
| Year | Office | Results[8] |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | President | McCain 73% - 25% |
| 2012 | President | Romney 73% - 27% |
| 2014 | Senate | Cassidy 66% - 34% |
| 2015 | Governor | Vitter 56% - 44% |
| Lt. Governor | Nungesser 80% - 20% | |
| 2016 | President | Trump 69% - 27% |
| Senate | Kennedy 74% - 26% | |
| 2019 | Governor | Rispone 55% - 45% |
| Lt. Governor | Nungesser 80% - 20% | |
| Attorney General | Landry 76% - 24% | |
| 2020 | President | Trump 69% - 30% |
| 2023 | Attorney General | Murrill 75% - 25% |
| 2024 | President | Trump 68% - 30% |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | David Vitter (Incumbent) | 147,117 | 81.47 | |
| Republican | Monica L. Monica | 20,268 | 11.22 | |
| Republican | Robert Namer | 7,229 | 4.00 | |
| Libertarian | Ian P. Hawxhurst | 5,956 | 3.30 | |
| Total votes | 180,570 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bobby Jindal | 225,708 | 78.40 | |
| Democratic | Roy Armstrong | 19,266 | 6.69 | |
| Democratic | Vinny Mendoza | 12,779 | 4.44 | |
| Democratic | Daniel Zimmerman | 12,135 | 4.22 | |
| Democratic | Jerry Watts | 10,034 | 3.49 | |
| Republican | Mike Rogers | 7,975 | 2.77 | |
| Total votes | 287,897 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bobby Jindal (Incumbent) | 130,508 | 88.11 | |
| Democratic | David Gereighty | 10,919 | 7.37 | |
| Democratic | Stacey Tallitsch | 5,025 | 3.39 | |
| Libertarian | Peter L. Beary | 1,676 | 1.13 | |
| Total votes | 148,128 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Steve Scalise | 33,867 | 75.14 | |
| Democratic | Gilda Reed | 10,142 | 22.50 | |
| Independent | R.A. "Skip" Galan | 786 | 1.74 | |
| Independent | Anthony Gentile | 280 | 0.62 | |
| Total votes | 45,075 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Steve Scalise (Incumbent) | 189,168 | 65.68 | |
| Democratic | Jim Harlan | 98,839 | 34.32 | |
| Total votes | 288,007 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Steve Scalise (Incumbent) | 157,182 | 78.52 | |
| Democratic | Myron Katz | 38,416 | 19.19 | |
| Independent | Arden Wells | 4,578 | 2.29 | |
| Total votes | 200,176 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Steve Scalise (Incumbent) | 193,496 | 66.63 | |
| Democratic | Vinny Mendoza | 61,703 | 21.25 | |
| Republican | Gary King | 24,844 | 8.55 | |
| Independent | David Turknett | 6,079 | 2.09 | |
| Independent | Arden Wells | 4,578 | 1.48 | |
| Total votes | 290,410 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Steve Scalise (Incumbent) | 189,250 | 77.56 | |
| Democratic | Vinny Mendoza | 24,761 | 10.15 | |
| Democratic | Lee Dugas | 21,286 | 8.72 | |
| Libertarian | Jeff Sanford | 8,707 | 3.57 | |
| Total votes | 244,004 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Steve Scalise (Incumbent) | 243,645 | 74.56 | |
| Democratic | Lee Ann Dugas | 41,840 | 12.80 | |
| Democratic | Danil Faust | 12,708 | 3.89 | |
| Libertarian | Howard Kearney | 9,405 | 2.88 | |
| Democratic | Joe Swider | 9,237 | 2.83 | |
| Green | Eliot Barron | 6,717 | 2.06 | |
| Independent | Chuemal Yang | 3,236 | 0.99 | |
| Total votes | 326,788 | 100.00 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Steve Scalise (Incumbent) | 192,526 | 71.5 | |
| Democratic | Tammy Savoie | 44,262 | 16.4 | |
| Democratic | Lee Ann Dugas | 18,552 | 6.9 | |
| Democratic | Jim Francis | 8,685 | 3.2 | |
| Libertarian | Howard Kearney | 2,806 | 1.0 | |
| Independent | Frederick "Ferd" Jones | 2,442 | 0.9 | |
| Total votes | 269,325 | 100.0 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Steve Scalise (incumbent) | 270,330 | 72.21 | |
| Democratic | Lee Ann Dugas | 94,730 | 25.30 | |
| Libertarian | Howard Kearney | 9,309 | 2.49 | |
| Total votes | 374,369 | 100.0 | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Steve Scalise (incumbent) | 177,670 | 72.8 | ||
| Democratic | Katie Darling | 61,467 | 25.2 | ||
| Libertarian | Howard Kearney | 4,907 | 2.0 | ||
| Total votes | 244,044 | 100.0 | |||
| Republicanhold | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Steve Scalise (incumbent) | 238,842 | 66.8 | ||
| Democratic | Mel Manuel | 85,911 | 24.0 | ||
| Republican | Randall Arrington | 17,856 | 5.0 | ||
| Republican | Ross Shales | 8,330 | 2.3 | ||
| Independent | Frankie Hyers | 6,781 | 1.9 | ||
| Total votes | 357,720 | 100.0 | |||
| Republicanhold | |||||
29°39′59″N89°53′34″W / 29.66639°N 89.89278°W /29.66639; -89.89278
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