# Pennsylvania Senate, District 1

Pennsylvania State Senate District 1 includes part of Philadelphia County. It is currently represented by Democrat Nikil Saval.

## District profile

The district includes the following areas:
Philadelphia County:
* Ward 01
* Ward 02
* Ward 05
* Ward 08
* Ward 18
* Ward 25 [PART, Divisions 01, 04 and 07]
* Ward 26 [PART, Divisions 01, 02, 03, 20 and 23]
* Ward 30
* Ward 31
* Ward 39
* Ward 40 [PART, Divisions 30, 38 and 40]

## Senators

| Representative | Party | Years | Note |
| Lindsay Coats | Federalist | 1791 – 1797 | |
| Dennis Whelen | Federalist | 1795 – 1801 | |
| Samuel King | Federalist | 1799 – 1801 | |
| William Rodman | Jeffersonian Republican | 1799 – 1803 | U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district from 1811 to 1813 |
| Melchior Rahm | Jeffersonian Republican | 1805 – 1813 | |
| John Barclay | Federalist | 1811 – 1813 | Mayor of Philadelphia from 1791 to 1793 |
| Nicholas Biddle | Federalist | 1813 – 1815 | 3rd president of the Second Bank of the United States from 1813 to 1815 |
| Jacob Shearer | Democratic-Republican | 1813 – 1815 | |
| William Maghee | Federalist | 1815 – 1817 | |
| John Read | Federalist | 1817 – 1818 | |
| Michael Leib | Democratic-Republican | 1818 – 1821 | U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district from 1799 to 1803. U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district from 1803 to 1806. U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania from 1809 to 1814 |
| Condy Raguet | Federalist | 1817 – 1821 | 1st United States Ambassador to Brazil from 1825 to 1827 |
| Robert McMullin | Federalist | 1819 – 1820 | |
| James Robertson | Federalist | 1821 – 1823 | |
| John Wurtz | Federalist | 1821 – 1823 | |
| George Emlen | Federalist | 1823 – 1825 | |
| John Hare Powel | Federalist | 1827 – 1829 | Colonel in the U.S. Army. Founder of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society in 1823 |
| William Boyd | Democratic | 1831 – 1833 | |
| David S. Hassinger | Democratic | 1831 – 1833 | |
| George W. Toland | Democratic | 1833 – 1835 | U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district from 1837 to 1843 |
| Abraham Miller | Democratic | 1835 – 1837 | |
| Frederick Fraley | Whig | 1837 – 1839 | One of the founders of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia |
| Henry S. Spackman | Washington | 1839 – 1843 | |
| Jacob Gratz | Democratic | 1841 – 1842 | |
| William Bradford Reed | Whig | 1841 – 1842 | Pennsylvania Attorney General from 1838 to 1839. U.S. Minister to China in 1857 |
| William A. Crabb | Whig | 1843 – 1855 | |
| Joseph Bailey | Democratic | 1843 – 1851 | U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district from 1861 to 1863. U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district from 1863 to 1865 |
| Charles L. Gibbons | Whig | 1845 – 1847 | |
| Benjamin Matthias | Whig | 1847 – 1851 | |
| Charles O'Neill | Whig | 1853 – 1854 | U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district from 1863 to 1871 and from 1873 to 1893 |
| Eli Kirk Price | Whig | 1853 – 1855 | |
| Harlan G. Ingram | Democratic | 1857 – 1858 | |
| Isaac Nathaniel Marselis | Democratic | 1857 – 1859 | |
| Samuel Jackson Randall | Democratic | 1857 – 1859 | U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district from 1863 to 1875 and from Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district from 1875 to 1890. 29th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1876 to 1881 |
| Richardson L. Wright | Democratic | 1857 – 1859 | |
| John H. Parker | Republican | 1859 – 1860 | |
| George Rush Smith | Republican | 1861 – 1862 | |
| Cornelius M. Donovan | Democratic | 1861 – 1865 | |
| Jeremiah Nichols | Whig | 1861 – 1865 | |
| Abraham Heistand Glatz | Democratic | 1861 – 1867 | |
| George C. Connell | Republican | 1861 – 1869 | |
| Jacob Elwood Ridgway | Republican | 1863 – 1865 | |
| Stephen Fowler Wilson | Republican | 1863 – 1865 | U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district from 1865 to 1869 |
| William McCandless | Democratic | 1867 – 1868 | Colonel in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War and the first Secretary of Internal Affairs of Pennsylvania |
| William W. Watt | Republican | 1869 – 1870 | |
| John B. Warfel | Republican | 1869 – 1875 | |
| Robert Porter Dechert | Democratic | 1871 – 1872 | |
| James B. Alexander | Republican | 1873 – 1875 | |
| Daniel Ermentrout | Democratic | 1873 – 1887 | U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district from 1881 to 1889 and Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district from 1897 to 1899 |
| George Handy Smith | Republican | 1875 – 1895 | |
| William Wagner | Whig | 1883 – 1884 | Founder of the Wagner Free Institute of Science |
| George Augustus Vare | Republican | 1897 – 1907 | |
| Edwin H. Vare | Republican | 1909 – 1921 | |
| William Scott Vare | Republican | 1922 – 1923 | U.S. Senator-elect for Pennsylvania from 1927 to 1929. Never seated and removed in 1929 due to allegations of corruption and voter fraud |
| Flora M. Vare | Republican | 1925 – 1928 | First woman to serve in the Pennsylvania Senate |
| Lawrence E. McCrossin | Democratic | 1929 – 1930 | |
| Joseph C. Trainer | Republican | 1931 – 1935 | |
| Anthony J. DiSilvestro | Democratic | 1937 – 1965 | |
| Henry J. Cianfrani | Democratic | 1967 – 1977 | Resigned on December 15, 1977 |
| Vincent J. Fumo | Democratic | 1978 – 2008 | Convicted of 137 federal corruption charges and sentenced to 55 months in federal prison |
| Larry Farnese | Democratic | 2009 – 2021 | Elected November 4, 2008. Lost renomination in 2020. |
| Nikil Saval | Democratic | 2021 – present | Elected November 3, 2020 |

## Recent election results

PA Senate election, 2020 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Nikil Saval | 124,514 | 100 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 124,514 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |
Democratic primary, 2020 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Nikil Saval | 35,747 | 56.9% |
| | Democratic | Larry Farnese (incumbent) | 27,025 | 43.1% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 62,772 | 100.0% |
PA Senate election, 2016 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Larry Farnese (incumbent) | 114,099 | 100 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 114,099 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |
Democratic primary, 2016 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Larry Farnese (incumbent) | 37,647 | 74.3% |
| | Democratic | John Morley | 13,049 | 25.7% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 50,696 | 100.0% |
PA Senate election, 2012 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Larry Farnese (incumbent) | 95,612 | 82.4 |
| | Republican | Alfonso Gambone, Jr. | 20,421 | 17.6 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 116,033 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |
PA Senate election, 2008 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Larry Farnese | 95,727 | 80.8 |
| | Republican | Jack Morley | 22,698 | 19.2 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 118,425 | 100.0 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |
Democratic primary, 2008 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Larry Farnese | 30,879 | 42.9% |
| | Democratic | Johnny Dougherty | 27,331 | 37.9% |
| | Democratic | Anne Dicker | 13,813 | 19.2% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 72,023 | 100.0% |