New Jersey's 1st legislative district is one of 40 in the state, covering the Atlantic County

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Corbin City, Estell Manor and Weymouth Township; every

Cape May County Cape May County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Much of the county is located on the Cape May peninsula, bound by the Delaware Bay to its west and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and east. Adjacent to the Atlantic ...

municipality including

Avalon Avalon () is an island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' as a place of magic where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recove ...

Cape May Cape May consists of a peninsula and barrier island system in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is roughly coterminous with Cape May County and runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Th ...

, Cape May Point, Dennis Township, Lower Township, Middle Township, North Wildwood, Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Stone Harbor, Upper Township, West Cape May, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and Woodbine; and the

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Cumberland, historic county *Cumberl ...

municipalities of Bridgeton, Commercial Township, Downe Township, Fairfield Township, Lawrence Township, Maurice River Township, Millville and Vineland as of the 2021 apportionment.

Demographic characteristics

As of the 2020 United States census, the district had a population of 216,124, of whom 173,507 (80.3%) were of voting age. The racial makeup of the district was 148,837 (68.9%)

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, 23,585 (10.9%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1,536 (0.7%) Native American, 2,710 (1.3%) Asian, 42 (0.0%)

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, 18,897 (8.7%) from some other race, and 20,517 (9.5%) from two or more races.

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or Latino people of any race were 42,561 (19.7%) of the population. The district had 162,425 registered voters , of whom 58,060 (35.7%) were registered as unaffiliated, 53,502 (32.9%) were registered as Republicans, 48,219 (29.7%) were registered as Democrats, and 2,644 (1.6%) were registered to other parties.

Political representation

It is entirely located within New Jersey's 2nd congressional district.

1965–1973

During the period of time after the 1964

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decision in ''

Reynolds v. Sims ''Reynolds v. Sims'', 377 U.S. 533 (1964), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the single-seat electoral districts of state legislative chambers must be roughly equal in population. Along with '' Bak ...

'' and before the establishment of a 40-district legislature in 1973, the 1st district encompassed the entirety of

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, and

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counties in the 1965–1967 Senate session (two Senators elected), and Cape May and

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

counties in the Senate and Assembly sessions from 1967 through 1973 (one Senator and two Assembly members elected). In the 1965-1967 Senate session, Republicans John E. Hunt and Frank S. Farley were elected though one seat of the two would become vacant upon Hunt's election to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. In the following two Senate sessions, Republican Robert E. Kay was elected in 1967 for a four-year term followed by Republican James Cafiero for a two-year term in 1971. For the two-year assembly sessions from 1967 until 1973, Republicans held both seats for the three assembly elections during this period, with Cafiero and James R. Hurley winning in the 1967 and 1969 elections, and Hurley and Joseph W. Chinnici winning in 1971.

District composition since 1973

For the first iteration of the 1st district implemented under the 40 equal districts plan, the district once again encompassed all of Cape May and Cumberland counties. For the sessions following the

1980 census The 1980 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4% over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 census. It was the first ce ...

, the 1st included all of Cape May, but only included the Cumberland County cities of Bridgeton, Millville, and Vineland, and the townships of Deerfield, Maurice River, and Upper Deerfield. The 1991 iteration of the 1st included all of Cape May, only Maurice River Township, Millville, and Vineland in Cumberland, and added Buena and Buena Vista Township in Atlantic County. With the exception of adding Atlantic County's Somers Point, the 2001 iteration of the 1st remained the same as the 1991 district. The 2021 apportionment added Bridgeton, and removed Greenwich Township, Hopewell Township, Shiloh and Stow Creek Township.Symons, Michael
"What’s Your New NJ Legislative District? 20% Moved on New Map"
WPGG, February 25, 2022. Accessed April 19, 2023. "1st Legislative District... ADDS: Bridgeton (10% of the district) LOSES: Greenwich, Hopewell, Shiloh, Stow Creek"

Election history

Notes:

Election results, 1973–present

Senate

General Assembly

Election results, 1965–1973

Senate

General Assembly

References

{{NewJerseyLegislatureDistricts Atlantic County, New Jersey Cape May County, New Jersey Cumberland County, New Jersey 01