Florida's 1st congressional district

Florida's 1st congressional district
Florida's first congressional district. Since January 3, 2013.
Current Representative		Jeff Miller (R–Chumuckla)
Area	5,241 mi2
Distribution	77.5% urban, 22.5% rural
Population (2000)	639,295
Median income	$36,738
Ethnicity	80.0% White, 14.0% Black, 1.9% Asian, 3.0% Hispanic, 0.9% Native American, 0.2% other
Cook PVI	R+21

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 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.

The district is currently represented by Republican Jeff Miller, who was first elected in a special election following the resignation of Joe Scarborough.

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.

Voting

Election results from statewide races
Year	Office	Results
1992	President	Bush 51.2 - 25.7%
	Senator	Graham 54.5 - 45.5%
1994	Senator	Mack 80.9 - 19.1%
	Governor	Bush 60.8 - 39.2%
	Secretary of State	Mortham 64.1 - 35.9%
	Attorney General	Ferro 52.8 - 47.2%
	Comptroller	Milligan 59.1 - 40.9%
	Treasurer	Ireland 59.7 - 40.3%
	Education Commissioner	Brogan 64.1 - 35.9%
	Agriculture Commissioner	Smith 55.6 - 44.4%
1996	President	Dole 59.2 - 31.0%
1998	Senator	Crist 51.6 - 48.4%
	Governor	Bush 71.4 - 28.6%
	Secretary of State	Harris 65.0 - 35.0%
	Attorney General	Bludworth 57.0 - 43.0%
	Comptroller	Milligan 71.1 - 28.9%
	Treasurer	Ireland 58.8 - 41.2%
	Education Commissioner	Gallagher 67.2 - 32.8%
	Agriculture Commissioner	Faircloth 54.7 - 45.3%
2000	President	Bush 67.7 - 29.8%
	Senator	McCollum 64.7 - 35.3%
	Treasurer	Gallagher 73.1 - 26.9%
	Education Commissioner	Crist 67.6 - 32.4%
2004	President	Bush 72 - 28%
2008	President	McCain 67 - 32%

Voter registration

Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of January 3, 2012
Party		Voters	Percentage
	Republican	230,628	49.86%
	Democratic	148,208	32.04%
	No Party Affiliation	71,779	15.52%

List of representatives

Representative	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history	Geographical boundaries
District created		March 4, 1875
William J. Purman	Republican	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877	44	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
100px Robert H. M. Davidson	Democratic	March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1891	45 46 47 48 49 50 51	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
					[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
100px Stephen R. Mallory	Democratic	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1895	52 53	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
					[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Stephen M. Sparkman	Democratic	March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1917	54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
					[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
					[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Herbert J. Drane	Democratic	March 4, 1917 – March 3, 1933	65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
					[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
J. Hardin Peterson	Democratic	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1951	73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
					[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Chester B. McMullen	Democratic	January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1953	82	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Courtney W. Campbell	Democratic	January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955	83	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
William C. Cramer	Republican	January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1963	84 85 86 87	Redistricted to the 12th district
Robert L. F. Sikes	Democratic	January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1979	88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95	Redistricted from the 3rd district. Retired	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
					[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Earl Dewitt Hutto	Democratic	January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1995	96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103	Retired
					[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
					[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
100px Joe Scarborough	Republican	January 3, 1995 – September 5, 2001	104 105 106 107	Resigned
Vacant		September 5, 2001 – October 16, 2001	107
Jeff Miller	Republican	October 16, 2001 – present	107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114	First elected to finish Scarborough's term.
					See above

Election Results

2002

Florida's 1st Congressional District Election (2002)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Miller*	152,635	74.59
	Democratic	Bert Oram	51,972	25.40
	No party	Others	19	0.01%
Total votes			204,626	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2004

Florida's 1st Congressional District Election (2004)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Miller*	236,604	76.54
	Democratic	Mark S. Coutu	72,506	23.46
Total votes			309,110	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2006

Florida's 1st Congressional District Election (2006)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Miller*	135,786	68.54
	No party	Joe Roberts	62,340	31.47%
Total votes			198,126	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2008

Florida's 1st Congressional District Election (2008)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Miller*	232,559	70.18
	Democratic	James E. Bryan	98,797	29.82
Total votes			331,356	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2010

Florida's 1st Congressional District Election (2010)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Miller*	170,821	80.00
	Independent	Joe Cantrell	23,250	10.89
	Independent	John E. Krause	18,253	8.55
	No party	Others	1,202	0.56%
Total votes			213,526	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2012

Florida's 1st Congressional District Election (2012)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Miller*	238,440	69.6
	Democratic	James E. Bryan	92,961	27.1
	Libertarian	Calen Fretts	11,176	3.3
	No party	William Cleave Drummond II	17	0.0%
Total votes			342,594	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

Living former Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 1st congressional district

As of May 2015, there are two former members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 1st congressional district who are currently living at this time.

Representative	Term in office	Date of birth (and age)
Earl Dewitt Hutto	1979–1985	(1926-05-12) May 12, 1926
Joe Scarborough	1995–2001	(1963-04-09) April 9, 1963

References

• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present