Missouri's 1st Congressional District

Missouri's 1st Congressional District

Incumbent

Wesley Bell

Assumed office: January 3, 2025

Missouri's 1st Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives is represented by Wesley Bell (D).

As of the 2020 Census, Missouri representatives represented an average of 770,035 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 751,435 residents.

Elections

2024

See also: Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2024

Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 Democratic primary)

Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Wesley Bell defeated Andrew Jones Jr., Rochelle Riggins, Don Fitz, and Blake Ashby in the general election for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Wesley Bell (D)	75.9	233,312
		Andrew Jones Jr. (R)	18.4	56,453
		Rochelle Riggins (L)	3.3	10,070
		Don Fitz (G)	1.7	5,151
		Blake Ashby (Better Party)	0.7	2,279

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 307,265
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Wesley Bell defeated incumbent Cori Bush, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, and Ron Harshaw in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 6, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Wesley Bell	51.1	63,521
		Cori Bush	45.6	56,723
		Maria Chappelle-Nadal	2.6	3,279
		Ron Harshaw	0.6	735

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 124,258
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Andrew Jones Jr. defeated Stan Hall, Michael J. Hebron Sr., Laura Mitchell-Riley, and Timothy Gartin in the Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 6, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andrew Jones Jr.	26.9	4,209
		Stan Hall	25.6	4,008
		Michael J. Hebron Sr.	20.7	3,247
		Laura Mitchell-Riley	20.5	3,215
		Timothy Gartin	6.4	996

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 15,675
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Rochelle Riggins advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 6, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rochelle Riggins	100.0	272

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 272
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2022

See also: Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Incumbent Cori Bush defeated Andrew Jones Jr. and George Zsidisin in the general election for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cori Bush (D)	72.9	160,999
		Andrew Jones Jr. (R)	24.3	53,767
		George Zsidisin (L)	2.8	6,192
		Other/Write-in votes	0.0	7

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 220,965
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Incumbent Cori Bush defeated Steve Roberts, Michael Daniels, Ron Harshaw, and Earl Childress in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cori Bush	69.5	65,326
		Steve Roberts	26.6	25,015
	Submit photo	Michael Daniels	1.8	1,683
		Ron Harshaw	1.1	1,065
		Earl Childress	1.0	929

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 94,018
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• David Koehr (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Andrew Jones Jr. defeated Steven Jordan and Laura Mitchell-Riley in the Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andrew Jones Jr.	42.4	6,937
		Steven Jordan	31.5	5,153
		Laura Mitchell-Riley	26.1	4,260

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 16,350
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• James Snider (R)

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

George Zsidisin advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		George Zsidisin	100.0	206

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 206
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2020

See also: Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Cori Bush defeated Anthony Rogers, Alex Furman, and Martin Baker in the general election for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cori Bush (D)	78.8	249,087
		Anthony Rogers (R)	19.0	59,940
		Alex Furman (L)	2.1	6,766
		Martin Baker (Independent) (Write-in)	0.1	378

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 316,171
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Cori Bush defeated incumbent William Lacy Clay and Katherine Bruckner in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cori Bush	48.5	73,274
		William Lacy Clay	45.6	68,887
	Submit photo	Katherine Bruckner	5.9	8,850

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 151,011
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Anthony Rogers defeated Winnie Heartstrong in the Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Anthony Rogers	61.5	6,979
		Winnie Heartstrong	38.5	4,367

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,346
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Alex Furman advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Alex Furman	100.0	337

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 337
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also: Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Incumbent William Lacy Clay defeated Robert Vroman and Robb Cunningham in the general election for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		William Lacy Clay (D)	80.1	219,781
		Robert Vroman (R)	16.7	45,867
		Robb Cunningham (L)	3.2	8,727

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 274,375
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Incumbent William Lacy Clay defeated Cori Bush, Joshua Shipp, and Demarco Davidson in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 7, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		William Lacy Clay	56.7	81,812
		Cori Bush	36.9	53,250
		Joshua Shipp	3.4	4,974
		Demarco Davidson	2.9	4,243

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 144,279 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Susan Bolhafner (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Robert Vroman defeated Edward Van Deventer Jr. and Camille Lombardi-Olive in the Republican primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 7, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Robert Vroman	34.5	5,101
		Edward Van Deventer Jr.	32.9	4,876
		Camille Lombardi-Olive	32.6	4,829

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 14,806 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1

Robb Cunningham advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House Missouri District 1 on August 7, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Robb Cunningham	100.0	478

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 478 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2016

See also: Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent William Lacy Clay (D) defeated Steven Bailey (R) and Robb Cunningham (L) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Clay defeated Maria Chappelle-Nadal and Bill Haas in the Democratic primary, while Bailey defeated Paul Berry to win the Republican nomination. The primary elections took place on August 2, 2016. Clay won re-election in the November 8 election.

U.S. House, Missouri District 1 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	William Lacy Clay Incumbent	75.5%	236,993
	Republican	Steven Bailey	20%	62,714
	Libertarian	Robb Cunningham	4.6%	14,317
Total Votes				314,024
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

U.S. House, Missouri District 1 Democratic Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
William Lacy Clay Incumbent	62.6%	56,139
Maria Chappelle-Nadal	26.8%	24,059
Bill Haas	10.5%	9,422
Total Votes		89,620
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

U.S. House, Missouri District 1 Republican Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Steven Bailey	67.2%	12,450
Paul Berry	32.8%	6,067
Total Votes		18,517
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

2014

See also: Missouri's 1st Congressional District elections, 2014

The 1st Congressional District of Missouri held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Incumbent William Lacy Clay (D) defeated Daniel Elder (R) and Robb E. Cunningham (L) in the general election.

U.S. House, Missouri District 1 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	William Lacy Clay Incumbent	73%	119,315
	Republican	Daniel Elder	21.6%	35,273
	Libertarian	Robb E. Cunningham	5.4%	8,906
Total Votes				163,494
Source: Missouri Secretary of State

2012

See also: Missouri's 1st Congressional District elections, 2012

The 1st Congressional District of Missouri held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Incumbent William Lacy Clay won re-election in the district.

U.S. House, Missouri District 1 General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	William Lacy Clay Incumbent	78.7%	267,927
	Republican	Robyn Hamlin	17.9%	60,832
	Libertarian	Robb E. Cunningham	3.5%	11,824
Total Votes				340,583
Source: Missouri Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election"

The primary took place on August 7.

Democratic Primary

Missouri's 1st Congressional District Democratic Primary, 2012

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
William Lacy Clay Incumbent	63.3%	57,672
Russ Carnahan Incumbent	33.9%	30,911
Candice Britton	2.8%	2,566
Total Votes		91,149

Republican Primary

Missouri's 1st Congressional District Republican Primary, 2012

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Robyn Hamlin	57.9%	9,737
Martin D. Baker	42.1%	7,085
Total Votes		16,822

2010

On November 2, 2010, William Lacy Clay won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Robyn Hamlin (R) and Julie Stone (L) in the general election.

U.S. House Missouri District 1 General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	William Clay Lacy incumbent	73.6%	135,907
	Republican	Robyn Hamlin	23.6%	43,649
	Libertarian	Julie Stone	2.8%	5,223
Total Votes				184,779

2008

On November 4, 2008, William Lacy Clay won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Robb E. Cunningham (L) and Damien Johnson (Write-in) in the general election.

U.S. House, Missouri District 1 General Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	William Lacy Clay incumbent	88.1%	242,570
	Libertarian	Robb E. Cunningham	11.9%	32,700
	Write-in	Damien Johnson	0%	7
Total Votes				275,277

2006

On November 7, 2006, William Lacy Clay won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Mark J. Byrne (R) and Robb E. Cunningham (L) in the general election.

U.S. House, Missouri District 1 General Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	William Lacy Clay incumbent	72.9%	141,574
	Republican	Mark J. Byrne	24.7%	47,893
	Libertarian	Robb E. Cunningham	2.5%	4,768
Total Votes				194,235

2004

On November 2, 2004, William Lacy Clay won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Leslie L. Farr II (R), Terry Chadwick (L) and Robert Rehbein (Constitution) in the general election.

U.S. House, Missouri District 1 General Election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	William Lacy Clay incumbent	73%	213,658
	Republican	Leslie L. Farr II	22.1%	64,791
	Libertarian	Terry Chadwick	1.3%	3,937
	Constitution	Robert Rehbein	3.6%	10,404
Total Votes				292,790

2002

On November 5, 2002, William Lacy Clay won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Richard Schwadron (R) and Jim Higgins (L) in the general election.

U.S. House, Missouri District 1 General Election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	William Lacy Clay incumbent	70.1%	133,946
	Republican	Richard Schwadron	27.1%	51,755
	Libertarian	Jim Higgins	2.8%	5,354
Total Votes				191,055

2000

On November 7, 2000, William Lacy Clay won election to the United States House. He defeated Z. Dwight Billingsly (R), Brenda (Ziah) Reddick (Green), Tamara A. Millay (L) and Robert Penningroth (Reform) in the general election.

U.S. House, Missouri District 1 General Election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	William Lacy Clay	75.2%	149,173
	Republican	Z. Dwight Billingsly	21.5%	42,730
	Green	Brenda (Ziah) Reddick	1.6%	3,099
	Libertarian	Tamara A. Millay	1.1%	2,253
	Reform	Robert Penningroth	0.6%	1,092
Total Votes				198,347

Redistricting

2020-2021

See also: Redistricting in Missouri after the 2020 census

On August 29, 2025, Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) called a special legislative session for mid-decade congressional redistricting and proposed a map that would draw parts of Kansas City into surrounding rural districts. The special session began on September 3, 2025. The Missouri House approved the maps on September 9, 2025, by a 90-65 vote.

Missouri had previously enacted new congressional district boundaries on May 18, 2022, when Gov. Mike Parson (R) signed them into law. According to Rudi Keller of the Missouri Independent, "No change in the partisan makeup of the Missouri delegation, currently six Republicans and two Democrats, is expected as a result of the map." Keller also wrote, "nine counties that have shifted almost wholly or entirely into new districts. Boundaries shifted in the five large-population counties that were previously split and a new split was introduced in Boone County in central Missouri." This map took effect for Missouri’s 2022 congressional elections.

The Missouri House of Representatives approved the final version of the new congressional districts on May 9, 2022, by a vote of 101-47. Eighty-six Republicans and 15 Democrats approved the new map and 28 Democrats and 19 Republicans voted against it. The state Senate approved the legislation (known as HB 2909) on May 11, 2022, by a vote of 22-11. Sixteen Republicans and six Democrats voted to approve the new map and seven Republicans and four Democrats voted against.

After the Senate passed the maps, Keller wrote, "The first plan, released in December with backing from the Republican leaders of both chambers, essentially kept the partisan breakdown of the state’s delegation unchanged, with six safe Republican districts and two Democratic districts in Kansas City and St. Louis. The House passed that bill in January and, after weeks of on-and-off debate, the Senate passed a significantly altered version in late March. The seven members of the Senate’s conservative caucus demanded a map that cracked the Kansas City district and combined it with a huge swath of rural counties to make it possible for the GOP to capture the seat. The “6-2” vs. “7-1” debate came to a head in February when the conservative caucus began a filibuster that blocked progress not only on the redistricting plan but also on basically every other bill. At one point, two Republican Senators got into a shouting match and had to be physically separated."

How does redistricting in Missouri work? In Missouri, congressional district boundaries are drawn by the state legislature. These lines are subject to veto by the governor.

In 2018, the voters passed a citizens’ initiative called Amendment 1 that reshaped the redistricting process; in 2020, the voters narrowly passed a legislatively referred initiative called Amendment 3 that reshaped the process again.

Two distinct politician commissions are ultimately responsible for state legislative redistricting, one for the Missouri State Senate and another for the Missouri House of Representatives. Membership on these commissions is determined as follows:

“

Missouri’s congressional districts are drawn by the state legislature, as a regular statute, subject to gubernatorial veto. The state legislative lines are drawn by two separate politician commissions — one for state Senate districts, one for state House districts. For each commission, each major party’s congressional district committee nominates 2 members per congressional district, and the state committee nominates 5 members; the Governor chooses 1 per district per party and two per party from the statewide lists, for a total commission of 20.

”

Missouri District 1
until January 2, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Missouri District 1
starting January 3, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

2010-2011

This is the 1st Congressional District of Missouri after the 2001 redistricting process.

See also: Redistricting in Missouri after the 2010 census

In 2011, the Missouri State Legislature re-drew the congressional districts based on updated population information from the 2010 census.

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

2026

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is D+29. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 29 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Missouri's 1st the 17th most Democratic district nationally.

2024

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+27. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 27 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Missouri's 1st the 25th most Democratic district nationally.

Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have defeated Donald Trump (R) 78.4%-20.0%.

2022

Heading into the 2022 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+27. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 27 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Missouri's 1st the 27th most Democratic district nationally.

Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have received 78.4% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 20.0%.

2018

Heading into the 2018 elections, based on results from the 2016 and 2012 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+29. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 29 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Missouri's 1st Congressional District the 30th most Democratic nationally.

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 0.98. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.98 points toward that party.

See also

• Redistricting in Missouri
• Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2024
• Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2022
• Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2020
• Missouri's 1st Congressional District election, 2018

External links

• GovTrack District 1

Footnotes

[show]

Missouri's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Josh Hawley (R)

Eric Schmitt (R)

Representatives

District 1

Wesley Bell (D)

District 2

Ann Wagner (R)

District 3

Bob Onder (R)

District 4

Mark Alford (R)

District 5

Emanuel Cleaver (D)

District 6

Sam Graves (R)

District 7

Eric Burlison (R)

District 8

Jason Smith (R)

Republican Party (8)

Democratic Party (2)