Located at the southeastern tip of New Jersey in Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic counties, the First District includes the southern shore resorts south of Atlantic City, continues up the Delaware Bay and inland to the former industrial and glass manufacturing cities of Vineland and Millville. The population of its coastal resorts swells with seasonal residents and visitors in the summer months, with real estate values soaring with the strong demand for housing. Most resorts actively market their visitor attractions, such as Cape May and the Wildwoods, but some more affluent residential communities, notably Stone Harbor and Avalon, have sought to maintain their traditional neighborhoods under strong pressure for higher density development.

Like most of the southern shore, the area also has gained new residents and spin-off development from the growth of the Atlantic City tourist economy. The district has one of the highest proportions of senior citizens of all districts, and one of the lowest percentages of racial or ethnic minority residents.

Issues affecting the district include the health of the marine environment so important to its economy and ambiance; property taxes and health care, of special relevance to the high numbers of seniors; and economic development, particularly for residents of the fiscally stressed municipalities of Vineland and Millville. Glass manufacturing, a historic foundation of the industrial economy that took advantage of the high-quality sand found in the region, has been in long-term decline, although production continues at lower levels by such global producers as Geresheimer Glas AG of Germany and J.G. Durand Industries of France, which over the last decade acquired, respectively, the former independent family-owned firms founded in the 19th century of Wheaton Glass and Durand Glass. Founded by the Wheaton family, Wheaton Village in Millville operates a nonprofit museum, re-creating a typical 19th century workers' village and also hosting the Museum of American Glass, with exhibits of glass products manufactured by Wheaton Industries and other southern New Jersey glass plants.

The completion of a major shore protection project of the US Army Corps of Engineers along New Jersey's coast has replenished beaches, but the coast remains vulnerable to storm damage and tidal erosion. Recreational and commercial fishing is an important economic contributor, with several marinas, boat construction and seafood processing firms found along the coast. Once a leading source of oysters, the Delaware Bay shellfish beds were devastated by the MSX disease in the 1950s, but have recovered somewhat in more recent years.

Voter registration in the district is predominantly Republican, with the GOP also controlling most county and local elected offices. District voters have demonstrated, however, departures from the Republican tickets in races where Democrats have put up strong candidates who appeal to the moderate to conservative positions of most voters.

Democrat Jeff Van Drew, who was first elected to the Assembly in 2001 and then defeated incumbent Republican Senator Nicholas Asselta by a 55-45% margin in the 2007 election, is a dentist and former Cape May County freeholder and Dennis Township mayor. Democratic Assemblyman Nelson Albano, a labor union shop steward who is employed by Village Supermarkets, was first elected in 2005. In the 2007 Assembly election, the Democratic ticket of Assemblyman Albano and Matthew Milam of Vineland, owner of the Foundry Service Corp., a trucking company with 85 employees, won over Republicans Norris Clark, a Cape May County computer software businessman and former national spokesman for Ross Perot's presidential campaign, and Michael Donohue, an attorney in private practice and the Dennis Township Municipal Republican Chairman.  Albano received 10,144 votes and Milam 8,743 votes; Republicans Clark and Donohue received 6,053 and 5,908 votes, respectively.