West Virginia's 1st congressional district

West Virginia's 1st congressional district
West Virginia's 1st congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Representative	David McKinley R–Wheeling
Population (2019)	601,811
Median household income	$51,480[1]
Ethnicity	96.4% White 1.8% Black 0.7% Hispanic 0.7% Asian 0.2% Native American 0.1% other
Cook PVI	R+19[2]

West Virginia's 1st congressional district is located in the northern part of the state. It is the most regularly drawn of the state's three districts.

It includes the industrial Rust Belt area of the state's northern panhandle which includes the district's third largest city, Wheeling, as well as Fairmont, Clarksburg, and the college town of Morgantown, the home of the main campus of West Virginia University. The largest city in the district is Parkersburg; the second largest is Morgantown. It also includes many rural farm and timber producing areas. The district has almost no population change reported in the 2010 Census change relative to the other 2 districts, as growth around Morgantown and Parkersburg offset population loss elsewhere, and the district was carried over unchanged for the next ten-year cycle.

The district is currently represented by David McKinley, a Republican who has represented the district since 2011.

West Virginia has tended to give its congressmen very long tenures in Washington, and the 1st District is no exception. Only four men have represented the district since 1953: Bob Mollohan (D) (1953–1957), former Governor Arch Moore Jr. (R) (1957–1969), Bob Mollohan again (1969–1983), Alan Mollohan (1983–2011) and McKinley.

Despite the lack of turnover in the congressional seat, historically the 1st was not safe for either party. The cities are ancestrally Democratic strongholds, while the rural areas are much more conservative and have a tendency to swing Republican more often. As late as 2014, state legislators were roughly split between both parties.

Historically, the district has been very Democratic, mirroring the state as a whole. However, West Virginia Democrats tend to be somewhat more socially conservative than their counterparts in the rest of the nation, and the district has been swept up in the growing Republican trend in the state at the national level. No Democrat since Bill Clinton (who did so by a plurality in a three-way race) has carried the 1st District in presidential elections. George W. Bush carried the district both times in 2000 with 54% of the vote and 2004 with 58% of the vote. John McCain carried the district in 2008 with 56.77% of the vote while Barack Obama received 41.51%.

History[]

The First District has always been anchored in Wheeling, and as such has always included Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel counties^[3]–the five counties usually reckoned as the Northern Panhandle. The original 1863 districting included also Tyler, Pleasants, Doddridge, Harrison, Ritchie, Wood, Wirt, Gilmer, Calhoun and Lewis counties.^[3] It was essentially the successor of Virginia's 11th congressional district.

In 1882, the counties of Tyler, Doddridge, Harrison, Gilmer, Lewis and Braxton were added to the core counties.^[3] In 1902, the core counties were joined by Marion, Harrison, and Lewis counties.^[3] In the 1916 redistricting it included only the five core counties and Marion and Taylor.^[3] The district was unchanged in the 1934 and 1954 redistrictings.^[3] In 1962, Braxton, Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, Marion and Taylor joined the five core counties.^[3] The 1972 redistricting added Tyler, Pleasants, and Woods and deleted Taylor.^[3] The 1982 redistricting added Taylor back to the district.^[3]

1992 began the district as currently constituted, consisting of Barbour, Brooke, Doddridge, Grant, Hancock, Harrison, Marion, Marshall, Mineral, Monongalia, Ohio, Pleasants, Preston, Ritchie, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Wetzel and Wood counties.^[3] In 2002 Gilmer was added.^[3] For the election cycle that begins in 2012 the district was unchanged.^[3]

Recent presidential elections[]

Election results from presidential races
Year	Office	Results
2000	President	Bush 54 - 43%
2004	President	Bush 58 - 42%
2008	President	McCain 57 - 42%
2012	President	Romney 62 - 36%
2016	President	Trump 68 - 26%
2020	President	Trump 68 - 30%

List of members representing the district[]

Member	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
District created December 17, 1863
Jacob B. Blair	Unconditional Unionist	December 17, 1863 – March 3, 1865	38th	Elected in 1863. Retired.
Chester D. Hubbard	Unconditional Unionist	March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1867	39th 40th	Elected in 1864. Re-elected in 1866. Lost renomination.
	Republican	March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1869
Isaac H. Duval	Republican	March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871	41st	Elected in 1868. Retired.
John James Davis	Democratic	March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873	42nd 43rd	Elected in 1870. Re-elected in 1872. Retired.
	Independent Democratic	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875
Benjamin Wilson	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883	44th 45th 46th 47th	Elected in 1874. Re-elected in 1876. Re-elected in 1878. Re-elected in 1880. Retired.
Nathan Goff Jr.	Republican	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1889	48th 49th 50th	Elected in 1882. Re-elected in 1884. Re-elected in 1886. Retired.
John O. Pendleton	Democratic	March 4, 1889 – February 26, 1890	51st	Elected in 1888. Lost contested election.
George W. Atkinson	Republican	February 26, 1890 – March 3, 1891	51st	Won contested election. Retired.
John O. Pendleton	Democratic	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1895	52nd 53rd	Elected in 1890. Re-elected in 1892. Lost renomination.
Blackburn B. Dovener	Republican	March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1907	54th 55th 56th 57th 58th 59th	Elected in 1894. Re-elected in 1896. Re-elected in 1898. Re-elected in 1900. Re-elected in 1902. Re-elected in 1904. Lost renomination.
William Pallister Hubbard	Republican	March 4, 1907 – March 3, 1911	60th 61st	Elected in 1906. Re-elected in 1908. Retired.
John W. Davis	Democratic	March 4, 1911 – August 29, 1913	62nd 63rd	Elected in 1910. Re-elected in 1912. Resigned to become U.S. Solicitor General
Vacant		August 29, 1913 – October 14, 1913	63rd
Matthew M. Neely	Democratic	October 14, 1913 – March 3, 1921	63rd 64th 65th 66th	Elected to finish Davis's term. Re-elected in 1914. Re-elected in 1916. Re-elected in 1918. Lost re-election.
Benjamin L. Rosenbloom	Republican	March 4, 1921 – March 3, 1925	67th 68th	Elected in 1920. Re-elected in 1922. Retired to run for U.S. senator.
Carl G. Bachmann	Republican	March 4, 1925 – March 3, 1933	69th 70th 71st 72nd	Elected in 1924. Re-elected in 1926. Re-elected in 1928. Re-elected in 1930. Lost re-election.
Robert L. Ramsay	Democratic	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1939	73rd 74th 75th	Elected in 1932. Re-elected in 1934. Re-elected in 1936. Lost re-election.
A. C. Schiffler	Republican	January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1941	76th	Elected in 1938. Lost re-election.
Robert L. Ramsay	Democratic	January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943	77th	Elected in 1940. Lost re-election.
A. C. Schiffler	Republican	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1945	78th	Elected in 1942. Lost re-election.
Matthew M. Neely	Democratic	January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947	79th	Elected in 1944. Lost re-election.
Francis J. Love	Republican	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949	80th	Elected in 1946. Lost re-election.
Robert L. Ramsay	Democratic	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953	81st 82nd	Elected in 1948. Re-elected in 1950. Lost renomination.
Bob Mollohan	Democratic	January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1957	83rd 84th	Elected in 1952. Re-elected in 1954. Retired to run for governor.
Arch A. Moore Jr.	Republican	January 3, 1957 – January 3, 1969	85th 86th 87th 88th 89th 90th	Elected in 1956. Re-elected in 1958. Re-elected in 1960. Re-elected in 1962. Re-elected in 1964. Re-elected in 1966. Retired to run for governor.
Bob Mollohan	Democratic	January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1983	91st 92nd 93rd 94th 95th 96th 97th	Elected in 1968. Re-elected in 1970. Re-elected in 1972. Re-elected in 1974. Re-elected in 1976. Re-elected in 1978. Re-elected in 1980. Retired.
Alan Mollohan	Democratic	January 3, 1983 – January 3, 2011	98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th	Elected in 1982. Re-elected in 1984. Re-elected in 1986. Re-elected in 1988. Re-elected in 1990. Re-elected in 1992. Re-elected in 1994. Re-elected in 1996. Re-elected in 1998. Re-elected in 2000. Re-elected in 2002. Re-elected in 2004. Re-elected in 2006. Re-elected in 2008. Lost renomination.
David McKinley	Republican	January 3, 2011 – Present	112th 113th 114th 115th 116th 117th	Elected in 2010. Re-elected in 2012. Re-elected in 2014. Re-elected in 2016. Re-elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020.

Recent election results[]

2000s[]

2000 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alan Mollohan (incumbent)	170,974	87.78
	Libertarian	Richard Kerr	23,797	12.22
Total votes			194,771	100.00
	Democratic hold

2002 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alan Mollohan (incumbent)	110,941	99.71
	write-ins		320	0.29
Total votes			111,261	100.00
	Democratic hold

2004 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alan Mollohan (incumbent)	166,583	67.77
	Republican	Chris Wakim	79,196	32.22
Total votes			245,779	100.00
	Democratic hold

2006 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alan Mollohan (incumbent)	100,939	64.29
	Republican	Chris Wakim	55,963	35.65
	Write-ins		98	0.06
Total votes			157,000	100.00
	Democratic hold

2008 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alan Mollohan (incumbent)	187,734	99.93
	Write-ins		130	0.07
Total votes			187,864	100.00
	Democratic hold

2010s[]

2010 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David McKinley	90,660	50.40
	Democratic	Mike Oliverio	89,220	49.60
Total votes			179,880	100.00
	Republican gain from Democratic

2012 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David McKinley (incumbent)	133,809	62.5
	Democratic	Sue Thorn	80,342	37.5
Total votes			214,151	100.0
	Republican hold

2014 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David McKinley (incumbent)	92,491	64.0
	Democratic	Glen Gainer III	52,109	36.0
Total votes			144,600	100.0
	Republican hold

2016 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David McKinley (incumbent)	163,469	69.0
	Democratic	Mike Manypenny	73,534	31.0
Total votes			237,003	100.0
	Republican hold

2018 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David McKinley (incumbent)	127,997	64.6
	Democratic	Kendra Fershee	70,217	35.4
Total votes			198,214	100.0
	Republican hold

2020s[]

2020 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David McKinley (incumbent)	180,488	69.0
	Democratic	Natalie Cline	81,177	31.0
Total votes			261,665	100.0
	Republican hold

Historical district boundaries[]

See also[]

• West Virginia's congressional districts
• List of United States congressional districts

References[]

• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

Coordinates: 39°22′55″N 80°16′07″W / 39.38194°N 80.26861°W / 39.38194; -80.26861