Current Representative James Comer (R) Median income 30,360 | Population (2000) 673,729 Cook PVI R+14 | |
 | ||
Distribution 36.52% urban
63.48% rural Ethnicity 90.4% White
7.3% Black
0.4% Asian
1.5% Hispanic
0.1% Native American
0.1% other | ||
Kentucky's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Located in Western Kentucky, the district takes in Henderson, Hopkinsville, Madisonville, Paducah, and the college town of Murray.
The district is represented by Republican James Comer who won a special election to fill the seat of Rep. Ed Whitfield who resigned September 2016. Comer also won election to the regular term to begin January 3, 2017.
Characteristics
Although Democrats have an almost 2-to-1 edge in registration and still hold most local offices in the district, they tend to be very conservative on social issues, a trend which favors Republicans at the federal level.
As of September 2013, there were 505,870 registered voters: 302,406 (59.77%) Democrats, 174,137 (34.42%) Republicans, and 29,327 (5.80%) "Others". All of the "Others" included 21,711 (4.29%) unclassified Others, 7,011 (1.39%) Independents, 419 (0.08%) Libertarians, 93 (0.02%) Greens, 65 (0.01%) Constitutionalists, 19 (0.0038%) Reforms, and 9 (0.0018%) Socialist Workers.
Until January 1, 2006, Kentucky did not track party affiliation for registered voters who were neither Democratic nor Republican. The Kentucky voter registration card does not explicitly list anything other than Democratic Party, Republican Party, or Other, with the "Other" option having a blank line and no instructions on how to register as something else.
Kentucky counties within the 1st Congressional District: Adair | Allen | Ballard | Caldwell | Calloway | Carlisle | Casey | Christian | Clinton | Crittenden | Cumberland | Fulton | Graves | Henderson | Hickman | Hopkins | Livingston | Logan | Lyon | Marshall | Marion | McCracken | McLean | Metcalfe | Monroe | Muhlenberg | Ohio | Russell | Simpson | Taylor | Todd | Trigg | Union | Webster