Texas' 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives serves the northeastern portion of the state of Texas. As of 2022, the 1st district contained 775,992 people. It consists largely of four small East Texas metropolitan areasâÂÂKilgore, Texarkana, LongviewâÂÂMarshall, and Tyler. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of R+25, it is one of the most Republican districts in Texas. It has been represented by Republican Nathaniel Moran since 2023.
The 1st district once encompassed large parts of North Texas and Central Texas, but as the population of Texas grew, the district got smaller until it only encompassed about half of Northeast Texas.
For most of its history, the district was based in Texarkana, but in a controversial 2003 redistricting orchestrated by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Texarkana was drawn out of the district and moved to the neighboring . Lufkin, Tyler and Longview were added in its place. In the 2021 redistricting, Lufkin was dropped from the district and Texarkana was added back into it.
The district was predominantly rural for much of its history, and thus was far friendlier to electing Democrats to Congress even as most of Texas swung toward the Republicans. The district's four-term Democratic incumbent, Max Sandlin, was a particularly severe critic of the DeLay-led redistricting effort, claiming that lumping rural areas with urban ones stifled the voice of rural voters. The 2003 redistricting made the district more urban and Republican, especially with the addition of the Republican strongholds of Tyler and Longview. Sandlin was easily defeated in November 2004 by Republican Louie Gohmert, a longtime judge in the Tyler area. Gohmert was the first Republican to represent the district since Reconstruction. Proving just how Republican the reconfigured district is, Gohmert was reelected seven times with no less than 68 percent of the vote. The Democrats chose to not put up a candidate in 2008 and 2012. In 2022, Moran was elected to succeed Gohmert, with nearly 80% of the vote, becoming only the second Republican to represent the district since Reconstruction. In 2024, Moran ran unopposed.
The district's best-known congressman, Wright Patman, represented the district for 47 yearsâÂÂthe second-longest tenure of any Texan in Congress. He was an early supporter of the New Deal, and later chaired the House Banking Committee for 12 years.
The 2012 redistricting process changed the district's northern section. All of Marion County, Cass County, and most of Upshur County were removed from the district. To compensate, the eastern half of Wood County was added. Prior to this, the district included a population of 651,619 in the 2000 census. Additionally, the population broke down accordingly:
For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties and communities:
Bowie County (8)
Camp County (2)
Cass County (11)
Franklin County (2)
Gregg County (11)
Harrison County (6)
Marion County (2)
Morris County (5)
Panola County (4)
Red River County (6)
Rusk County (9)
Sabine County (3)
Shelby County (6)
Smith County (12)
Titus County (4)
Upshur County (6)
Election results from recent races: