Numbered map of Gunma Prefecture single-member districts
Gunma 1st district is a constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan (national legislature). It is located in Gunma Prefecture and consists of the cities of Maebashi and Numata and the district of Tone as well as parts of the cities of Kiryū, Shibukawa and Midori. As of 2012, 387,120 eligible voters were registered in the district.[1]
Until 2009, Gunma had been a traditional "conservative kingdom" (hoshu-ōkoku), the Japanese equivalent of a "red state" in the United States. Like all single member districts in Gunma, the 1st district had been represented by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 1997. The LDP used the (kosutarika-hōshiki) with Koji Omi and Genichiro Sata as alternating candidates for the district. In the election of 2009, Omi was the LDP's candidate; incumbent Sata only ran in the Northern Kantō proportional representation block. Both Omi and Sata had represented the pre-reform three-member . The Democratic Party's candidate in 2009 was Takeshi Miyazaki, a former journalist for the Jōmō Shimbun.[2] In 2012, Sata regained the district for the LDP.
In 2013, the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho accused Sata of inappropriate sexual conduct.[3] In the 2014 elections, Sata lost considerable support and did not receive endorsement from Komeito, but still managed to hold onto his seat.
Between 2017 and 2021, the representative was , the daughter of previous representative Kōji Omi. In 2021, the district was won by , son of former Foreign MinisterHirofumi Nakasone and grandson of Yasuhiro Nakasone who was Prime Minister 1982-1987.