Illinois's first congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Illinois. Based in Cook County, the district includes much of the South Side of Chicago and continues southwest to Joliet.
From 2003 to early 2013 it extended into the city's southwest suburbs until reaching the border of Will County, and covered , making it one of the 40 smallest districts in the U.S. (although there are four smaller districts in Illinois). The district had a population that was 65% African American, the highest percentage of any congressional district in the nation, but with redistricting that percentage has now declined to 49%. It includes the home of former President Barack Obama, who ran unsuccessfully for the seat in the 2000 primary.
The 1st is a majority-minority district, and has been since at least the 1920s. In 1929, it became the first district in the 20th century to send an African American to Congress when Republican Oscar Stanton De Priest was elected to represent the district. The 1st has been represented by an African American Member of Congress ever since, the longest ongoing stretch of black representation for any seat in the House of Representatives. It has been held by a Democrat since 1935 when Arthur Mitchell, the first African American Democrat elected to Congress, took the seat as part of the New Deal Coalition. In 1949, district representative William Dawson became the first African American to chair a congressional committee.
The district is currently represented by Jonathan Jackson who was elected to succeed longtime incumbent Bobby Rush in 2022.
Composition For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties, townships, and municipalities:
Cook County (26)
Alsip (part, also 6th), Blue Island (part, also 2nd), Bremen Township (part, also 2nd and 6th), Calumet Park (part, also 2nd), Calumet Township (part, also 2nd), Chicago (part, also 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th; shared with DuPage County), Country Club Hills (part, also 2nd), Crestwood (part, also 6th), Dixmoor (part, also 6th), Evergreen Park (part, also 6th), Harvey (part, also 2nd), Lemont (part, also 11th, shared with DuPage and Will counties), Lemont Township (part, also 6th), Markham (part, also 2nd), Matteson (part, also 2nd), Midlothian, Oak Forest (part, also 6th), Orland Park (part, also 6th; shared with Will County), Palos Park, Posen, Rich Township (part, also 2nd), Riverdale (part, also 6th), Robbins, Thornton Township (part, also 2nd), Tinley Park (part, also 6th; shared with Will County), Worth Township (part, also 4th and 6th)
Kankakee County (6)
Bourbonnais (part, also 2nd), Bourbonnais Township (part, also 2nd), Bradley (part, also 2nd), Manteno, Manteno Township (part, also 2nd), Rockville Township
Will County (32)
Braceville (part, also 16th; shared with Grundy County), Braidwood (part, also 16th; shared with Grundy County), Channahon, Channahon Township, Coal City, Custer Township, Diamond (part, also 16th; shared with Grundy County), Elwood (part, also 14th), Florence Township, Frankfort, Frankfort Township, Godley (part, also 16th; shared with Grundy County), Green Garden Township, Homer Glen, Homer Township, Joliet (part, also 14th), Lockport (part, also 14th), Lockport Township (part, also 14th; includes Bonnie Brae and part of Lockport Heights), Manhattan, Manhattan Township, Minooka (part, also 14th; shared with Grundy County), Mokena, New Lenox, New Lenox Township, Orland Park (part, also 6th; shared with Cook County), Peotone Township (part, also 2nd; includes Andres), Reed Township, Troy Township (part, also 14th), Wesley Township, Wilmington, Wilmington Township, Wilton Township
Chicago neighborhoods in the 1st district include:
Ashburn (part) Auburn Gresham Burnham Park Burnside Calumet Heights (part) Chatham Chicago Lawn (part) Douglas (part) Greater Grand Crossing Hyde Park (part) Kenwood (part) Morgan Park (part) Mt. Greenwood (part) Near South Side (part) Oakland Roseland (part) South Chicago (part) South Deering (part) South Shore (part) Washington Heights Washington Park (part) Woodlawn (part)
Economy The departure of the steel industry, along with other manufacturing jobs from the South Side in recent decades, has created economic difficulties which the area is still trying to overcome. The district's median household income as of 2000, $37,222, trailed the national average by 11.4%. The unemployment rate (7.6%) was more than double the national rate, and nearly 20% of district residents were living in poverty. These problems are more pronounced within the Chicago portion of the district – 14 of the district's 18 suburbs had median household incomes over $40,000 as of 1999, with the six most affluent grouped in the southwest corner of the district. But black middle-class Chicago neighborhoods, such as Avalon Park and Chatham, have remained more stable, along with the more upscale Hyde Park-Kenwood area. Health care and higher education now constitute major economic sectors in the region.
Hospitals in the district include Oak Forest Hospital in Oak Forest and Provident Hospital of Cook County in Grand Boulevard, both part of the Cook County Bureau of Health Services; as well as the University of Chicago Hospitals in Hyde Park, Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago Lawn, St. Francis Hospital in Blue Island, Jackson Park Hospital in South Shore and St. Bernard Hospital in Englewood.
Local educational institutions include the University of Chicago in Hyde Park, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Douglas, Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights and Kennedy-King College, a Chicago city college, in Englewood, and Chicago State University in Roseland is located directly outside the district at its southern edge; in addition, there are five seminaries in Hyde Park: Catholic Theological Union, Chicago Theological Seminary, Lutheran School of Theology, McCormick Theological Seminary and Meadville Lombard Theological School.
Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, is less than west of the district's northwestern border. Other area cultural and entertainment attractions include the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago's Washington Park, and First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park; several square miles of Cook County Forest Preserves can be found on three sides of Oak Forest, and Oak Forest's Chicago Gaelic Park Chicago Gaelic Park is home to Irish Fest, held annually on Memorial Day weekend. Business and industrial presences in the district include Panduit Corporation Network Infrastructure and Industrial Electrical Wiring, an electrical manufacturer in Tinley Park; Parco Foods Startup Domains | Valuable Domains. Invaluable Brands 4 Sale, a cookie manufacturer in Blue Island; and Midwest Suburban Publishing, publisher of the SouthtownStar, in Tinley Park.
In addition to Washington Park and those sites associated with the University of Chicago and IIT, district locations on the National Register of Historic Places include: Chicago Beach Hotel, Hyde Park Arthur H. Compton House National Historic Landmark, Hyde Park East Park Towers, Hyde Park Eighth Regiment Armory, Douglas Four Nineteen Building, Chatham Garden Homes Historic District, Chatham Grand Crossing Park, Greater Grand Crossing Hamilton Park, Englewood Anton E. Hanson House, South Shore Isadore H. Heller House National Historic Landmark, Hyde Park Hotel Windermere East, Hyde Park Hyde Park-Kenwood Historic District Jackson Park Historic Landscape District and Midway Plaisance,Hyde Park/Washington Park Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Synagogue, Douglas Frank R. Lillie House National Historic Landmark, Hyde Park Mayfair Apartments, Hyde ParkRobert A. Millikan House National Historic Landmark, Hyde Park The Narragansett, Kenwood Overton Hygienic Building, Douglas Poinsettia Apartments, Hyde Park Frederick C. Robie House National Historic Landmark, Hyde Park Martin Roche-John Tait House, Douglas Robert Roloson Houses, Douglas St. Thomas Church and Convent, Hyde Park South Park Manor Historic District, Greater Grand Crossing Lorado Taft Midway Studios National Historic Landmark, Woodlawn George R. Thorne House, Midlothian Unity Hall, Douglas Victory Monument, Douglas Karl Vogt Building, Tinley Park Ida B. Wells-Barnett House National Historic Landmark, Douglas The Yale, Englewood Joshua P. Young House, Blue Island
Recent election results from statewide races Year Office Results2008 PresidentObama 79% - 20%2012 PresidentObama 78% - 22%2016 PresidentClinton 72% - 24% SenateDuckworth 72% - 23% Comptroller (Spec.)Mendoza 66% - 28%2018 GovernorPritzker 71% - 24% Attorney GeneralRaoul 71% - 27% Secretary of StateWhite 80% - 18% ComptrollerMendoza 74% - 23% TreasurerFrerichs 72% - 25%2020 PresidentBiden 70% - 28% SenateDurbin 61% - 25%2022 SenateDuckworth 69% - 29% GovernorPritzker 68% - 30% Attorney GeneralRaoul 68% - 30% Secretary of StateGiannoulias 68% - 30% ComptrollerMendoza 70% - 29% TreasurerFrerichs 67% - 31%2024 PresidentHarris 65% - 33%
Presidential election results This table indicates how the district has voted in U.S. presidential elections; election results reflect voting in the district as it was configured at the time of the election, not as it is configured today. The candidate who received the most votes in the district is listed first; the candidate who won the election nationally is in CAPS, and the candidate who won the state of Illinois is indicated with a †.
Election District winner Runner up Other candidates 1852Vote totals from 1852 to 1868 are based on cumulative county totals as listed in Illinois: Historical and Statistical (1892), John Moses, Chicago: Fergus Printing Co., pp. 1208–1209.Scott (W), 6,992 (42%)PIERCE† (D), 6,948 (41%) Hale (Free Soil), 2,885 (17%) 1856Frémont (R), 18,247 (73%)BUCHANAN† (D), 5,991 (24%) Fillmore (American), 677 (3%) 1860LINCOLN† (R), 21,436 (70%)Douglas (D), 8,940 (29%) Bell (Constitutional Union), 99 (0.3%); Breckinridge (D), 62 (0.2%) 1864LINCOLN† (R), 18,667 (81%)McClellan (D), 4,351 (19%) 1868GRANT† (R), 27,527 (59%)Seymour (D), 19,104 (41%) 1872...1948 1952Congressional District Data Book: Districts of the 87th Congress, p. 17.Stevenson (D), 99,224 (75%)EISENHOWER† (R), 33,805 (25%) 1956Stevenson (D), 68,266 (64%)EISENHOWER† (R), 38,827 (36%) 1960KENNEDY† (D), 75,938 (77.80%)Nixon (R), 21,660 (22.19%)} 1964JOHNSON† (D), 150,953 (84.91%)Goldwater (R), 26,823 (15.08%) 1968Humphrey (D), 138,835 (93%)NIXON† (R), 10,081 (7%) Wallace (AIP), 1,010 (1%) 1972Barone, et al. (1973), p. 263.McGovern (D), 145,003 (90%)NIXON† (R), 16,998 (10%) 1976CARTER (D), 130,882 (90%)Ford† (R), 13,817 (10%) 1980Barone, et al. (1981), p. 295.Carter (D), 128,426 (91%)REAGAN† (R), 6,633 (5%) Anderson (Indep.), 3,092 (2%) 1984Mondale (D), 196,351 (95%)REAGAN† (R), 10,153 (5%) 1988Dukakis (D), 174,793 (95%)G. H. W. BUSH† (R), 7,168 (4%) 1992CLINTON† (D), 214,104 (81%)G. H. W. Bush (R), 32,803 (12%) Perot (Indep.), 17,355 (7%) 1996CLINTON† (D), 179,767 (85%)Dole (R), 22,914 (11%) Perot (Reform), 6,378 (3%) 2000Gore† (D), 194,432 (87%)G. W. BUSH (R), 24,276 (11%) Nader (Green), 2,867 (1%) 2004Kerry† (D), 234,086 (83%)G. W. BUSH (R), 47,533 (17%) 2008 OBAMA† (D) 287,240 (81%) McCain (R) 66,840 (19%) 2012 OBAMA† (D) 262,836 (79%) Romney (R) 67,557 (20%) 2016 Clinton† (D) 262,836 (79%) TRUMP (R) 67,557 (20%) 2020 BIDEN† (D) 246,946 (74%) Trump (R) 82,594 (25%) 2024 Harris† (D) 214,073 (65%) TRUMP (R) 109,242 (33%)
History