Population (2000) 639,295 Cook PVI R+21 | Median income 36,738 Area 12,326 km² | |
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Distribution 77.5% urban22.5% rural Ethnicity 78.0% White14.0% Black1.9% Asian3.0% Hispanic0.9% Native American0.2% other | ||
Florida's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Florida, covering the state's western Panhandle. It includes all of Escambia, Holmes, and Santa Rosa counties and portions of Okaloosa and Walton counties. The district is anchored in Pensacola and also includes the large military bedroom communities and tourist destanations of Navarre and Fort Walton Beach and stretches along the Emerald Coast. The district, as ranked by the Cook Partisan Voting Index, is the most Republican district in Florida and the 15th most in the United States.
Contents
- Characteristics
- Living former Members of the US House of Representatives from Floridas 1st congressional district
- References
The district is currently represented by Republican Matt Gaetz.
Characteristics
The district encompasses the western part of the Florida Panhandle, in the extreme western portion of the state, stretching from Pensacola and the Alabama border east to include Walton, Holmes, and Washington counties.
The territory now in the 1st District was originally part of the 3rd Congressional District from 1903 to 1963; however, it has been numbered as the 1st District since then. It cast aside its Democratic roots far sooner than most of the other areas of the state. It has not supported a Democrat for President since John F. Kennedy in 1960. In 1964, Republican Barry Goldwater carried the district by such a large margin that it nearly pushed Florida's electoral votes into the Republican column. It has continued to vote for Republicans by very wide margins, with the only exception being 1976, where Gerald Ford won a narrow 50-49 victory over Jimmy Carter. Nonetheless, it usually continued to elect conservative Democrats at the state and local level until the Republican Revolution of 1994. That year, Joe Scarborough became the first Republican to represent the Panhandle since Reconstruction. This change was more a result of eight-term conservative Democrat Earl Hutto retiring than of a Republican upsurge. It had been taken for granted that Hutto would be succeeded by a Republican once he retired, particularly when he was nearly defeated in 1990 and 1992. Republicans also swept most of the district's seats in the legislature. Since then, the district has become arguably the most Republican district in Florida, with Republicans dominating every level of government. John McCain received 67% of the vote in this district in 2008.
The area comprising the 1st Congressional District has maintained a large military presence ever since John Quincy Adams persuaded Spain to sell Florida to the United States in 1819, in part to gain a deepwater port at Pensacola. The U.S. Air Force also has a large presence in Eglin Air Force Base, which is economically important to the district. Slightly under 14,000 people are employed at the base, which is one of the largest air bases in the world and has approximately 100,000 square miles (260,000 km2) of airspace stretching over the Gulf of Mexico to the Florida Keys. Hurlburt Field is an auxiliary field at Eglin AFB and is the location of the Air Force Special Operations Command. Eglin AFB spreads over three counties. Pensacola Naval Air Station was the first Navy base devoted to the specific purpose of aviation, and is the home of the Blue Angels. Saufley Field, used for training, is slightly north of Pensacola NAS.
A large number of veterans who retire relocate to this district. Tourism, particularly in Destin, is a major economic activity.
Living former Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 1st congressional district
As of January 2017, there are three former members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 1st congressional district who are currently living at this time.