Arkansas's 1st congressional district

Infobox U.S. congressional district
state = Arkansas
district number = 1


representative = Marion Berry
party = Democratic
english area = 17,521
metric area = 45,379
percent urban = 44.5
percent rural = 55.5
population = 668,360
population year = 2000
median income = 28,940
percent white = 80.2
percent black = 16.6
percent asian = 0.3
percent native american = 0.4
percent hispanic = 1.9
percent other race = 0.9
percent blue collar = 35
percent white collar = 48.8
percent gray collar = 16.2
cpvi = D + 1

Arkansas's First Congressional District is a U.S. congressional district in Arkansas, which elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It encompasses the counties of Arkansas, Baxter, Clay, Cleburne, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Fulton, Greene, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Lee, Lonoke, Mississippi, Monroe, Phillips, Poinsett, Prairie, Randolph, Saint Francis, Searcy, Sharp, Stone, and Woodruff.

It is currently represented by Democrat Marion Berry.

Character

The Mississippi Delta has long been home to American industrial agriculture, with cotton, rice and soybeans by far the biggest export from the region. The 1st District, covers most of the Arkansas Delta area, stretching as far west to the Ozarks. The farming areas, despite their fertility, are generally poor by national standards, with unemployment and undereducation as some of the greatest problems. Rice farms are the amongst the greatest recipients of federal farming subsidization - and three of the top five subsidy farms in the United States are in the first district, receiving over $100 million since 1996. The district is also notable for its large population of ducks.

Some manufacturing has been sited in the region recently, with several auto parts factories being built in Marion, and Toyota considering it as the site for its seventh North American plant.

Jonesboro is the largest town, being home to a sizable food processing industry, with companies such as Nestle and Frito-Lay sited here. Whilst Jonesboro itself sports a Republican trend, along with some of the hill counties, it is balanced by the strong Democratic presence in the black-dominated Delta. The result is a fairly closely divided vote in national politics - 50%-48% for Al Gore in 2000 but 52%-47% for George W. Bush in 2004.