Rep. Jack Kingston (R) Elected 1992, 7th term
Born:	Apr. 24, 1955, Bryan, TX
Home:	Savannah
Education:	U. of GA, B.S. 1977
Religion:	Episcopalian
Marital Status:	married (Libby)
Elected  Office:	GA House of Reps., 1984-92.
Professional Career:	Insurance agent, 1979-92.
DC Office	2242 RHOB20515, 202-225-5831; Fax: 202-226-2269; Web site: www.house.gov/kingston
State Offices	Baxley, 912-367-7403; Brunswick, 912-265-9010; Savannah, 912-352-0101; Warner Robins, 478-923-8987.
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Georgia's South Atlantic coast, long one of the poorest parts of the country, was settled in the 1730s by James Oglethorpe as Britain's 13th coastal colony as a refuge and reformatory for convicts. It did not take long for the sea islands and lowlands along the wide rivers and inlets to become plantation country. It is here where General William Tecumseh Sherman and his troops famously set their sights when they marched from Atlanta in 1864. Without supplies or lines of communication, they burned plantation houses, destroyed crops and captured the Confederacy's leader (the Jefferson Davis Memorial in Ocilla marks the spot where Union troops nabbed him in May 1865); when their march was complete, they left behind memories of property destroyed and slaves freed, which were handed down as family lore for more than a century.

The 1st Congressional District of Georgia includes much of the southeast and south part of the state. It includes the state's whole Atlantic coast and runs approximately to Interstate 75 and from the Ocmulgee and Altamaha Rivers in the north to the Florida border in the south. It takes in a sliver of Savannah, most of which is now in the 12th District, and all of the Sea Islands, which house a vibrant resort economy with efforts to preserve the African-American Gullah culture and its eponymous West African-originated language; with natural protection from protesters, Sea Island hosted in 2004 the G-8 summit of world leaders. One of those coastal communities is the historic black settlement of Pin Point, nine miles southeast of Savannah. Its 300 citizens are mostly descendants of the first slaves here and its most famous son is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In central Georgia, a salient of the 1st District thrusts north nearly to Macon to take in part of Warner Robins, adjoining Warner Robins Air Force Base; another salient thrusts west to include Moultrie, the home town of Senator Saxby Chambliss. There are a few modest-sized cities like Brunswick, a World War II shipbuilding center and now site of the 1,500-acre Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and Waycross, a railroad junction town and gateway to the Okefenokee Swamp, the largest swamp in North America. Much of the district is rural, with cotton and tobacco fields and softwood forests inhabited by wild hogs and bears. Appling County and Berrien County are known for their turpentine and bell peppers. Many popular films have been produced in the region, including Glory and Forrest Gump. This was Democratic country for a century after General Sherman's troops marched through Georgia, but voters here are solidly conservative on most issues. For two decades this part of south Georgia voted for national Republicans but Georgia Democrats; since 2000, it has voted solidly Republican for governor and senator, as well.

The congressman from the 1st District is Jack Kingston, a Republican first elected in 1992. Kingston grew up in Texas, Ethiopia, and Athens, Georgia, the son of a professor. After college he moved to Savannah and became a commercial insurance agent. In 1984 he was elected to the Georgia House, at 29, and served eight years. In 1992, when Democrat Lindsay Thomas retired to work on the Atlanta Summer Olympics, Kingston ran for Congress. Against Democrat Barbara Christmas, a school principal, he won decisively--58%-42%, with a 2-1 margin in his home base of Savannah and Chatham County. He has not been seriously challenged since then.

In the House, Kingston has a mostly conservative voting record and has tended to district interests. He parted company with Bill Clinton on trade issues, notably NAFTA, GATT and normal trade relations for China, and he decries the World Trade Organization; but he voted to give trade promotion authority to George W. Bush. He serves on the Agriculture Subcommittee of Appropriations, where he has worked for district interests. In 2003, he became chairman of the Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee, an influential post with colleagues but one whose more than $4 billion budget produces many headaches. He was on the firing line for the huge cost overruns of the underground Capitol Visitors Center, whose initial cost estimate (in 1991) of $71 million has ballooned to more than $400 million, and counting. He also has managed the rapid growth in the Capitol police force. But he lost his chairmanship in 2005 when his subcommittee was eliminated in an Appropriations Committee restructuring.

Kingston also has pursued leadership activities. As head of the Republicans' "theme team," which coordinates the party's national message on the House floor and at home, he became a spokesman on late-night television shows. In November 2002 he defeated Melissa Hart of Pennsylvania to win election as vice-chairman of the Republican Conference--the party's fifth-highest leadership post--he stepped up his role in setting the party's message. At the start of the Iraq war, he wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld urging cancellation of the Pentagon's contract with a U.S. subsidiary of a food catering company based outside Paris. "My colleagues and I abhor the idea of continuing to pour American dollars into a French-based firm," Kingston wrote. He proposed an "academic bill of rights" to, as Kingston said, safeguard a student's right to "get an education rather than an indoctrination." In 2004 he played a key role in convincing House Republican leadership to back the $10 billion tobacco buyout, which ended the quota system in place since 1938.

On local issues, Kingston has fought for historic preservation and looked after local military facilities. His district annually is among the largest recipients of funds from the military construction spending bill, including $188 million in October 2004. Concerned about the impact of a base-closing process, he urged local groups to make sure that "everything is up to date." As an appropriator and co-chairman of the Congressional Waterways Caucus, he has brought millions of dollars to improve the water flow of the Savannah River and complete the Sidney Lanier drawbridge in Brunswick. He reached out to the black community with $450,000 from the Interior Department to preserve the remnants of slave cabins on Cumberland Island.

Kingston considered but turned down opportunities to run for the Senate in 2002 and 2004. With two first-term Republican senators now representing Georgia, he may not have that opportunity again. He was reelected without opposition in 2004.

Committees

• Republican Conference Vice Chairman
.
• Appropriations (13th of 37 R): Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA & Related Agencies; Defense.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	0	0	13	9	90	64	100	96	84	92	--
2003	10	--	0	0	--	64	97	92	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	21%	--	79%		0%	--	95%
Social	14%	--	85%		0%	--	91%
Foreign	11%	--	80%		0%	--	96%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR Y 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. N 5. DC School Vouchers Y 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Jack Kingston (R)	unopposed
2004 primary	Jack Kingston (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Jack Kingston (R)	103,661	72%	$819,954
	Don Smart (D)	40,026	28%	$21,768
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (69%); 1998 (100%); 1996 (68%); 1994 (77%); 1992 (58%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 158,216 (68%) Kerry (D) 72,658 (31%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 119,133 (64%) Gore (D) 65,744 (35%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the First District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +15
• District Size: 12,071 square miles
• Population in 2000: 629,761; 57.9% urban; 42.1% rural
• Median Household Income: $36,158; 14.8% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 30.2% blue collar; 53.3% white collar; 16.5% gray collar; 15.8% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 71.0% White, 22.5% Black, 0.9% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.1% Hawaiian, 1.0% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 4.1% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 15.3% USA, 7.2% English, 7.0% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.