The 1974 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas occurred on November 5, 1974, to elect the members of the state of Texas's delegation to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

had twenty-four seats in the House apportioned according to the 1970 United States Census. Texas underwent mid-decade redistricting as a result of the U.S.

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

case ''White v. Weiser''. A District Court had ruled the legislature's districts unconstitutional due to their average population deviation of 0.745%, which violated the

one man, one vote "One man, one vote", or "one person, one vote", expresses the principle that individuals should have equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of political equality to refer to such electoral reforms as universal suffrage, ...

principle established by ''

Wesberry v. Sanders ''Wesberry v. Sanders'', 376 U.S. 1 (1964), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that districts in the United States House of Representatives must be approximately equal in population. Along with '' Baker v. Carr'' (1 ...

''. The District Court had also ruled against the

Texas Legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ...

's incumbency protection justification for the district's deviation, but this ruling was not held upon appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court placed the lower court in charge of redrawing the map, which it did in time for the 1974 elections. These elections occurred simultaneously with the United States Senate elections of 1974, the United States House elections in other states, and various state and local elections. Democrats maintained their majority of U.S. House seats from Texas, gaining one seat from the Republicans, increasing their majority to twenty-one out of twenty-four seats.

Overview

Congressional Districts

District 1

Incumbent Democrat

Wright Patman John William Wright Patman (August 6, 1893 – March 7, 1976) was an American politician. First elected in 1928, Patman served 24 consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives for Texas's 1st congressional district from 1929 to 1 ...

, the

Dean of the House The dean of the House is, in some legislatures, the member with the longest unbroken record of service. U.C. Mandal, ''Dictionary Of Public Administration'' (2007), p. 123. Specific examples include: * Dean of the United States House of Representat ...

, ran for re-election.

District 2

Incumbent Democrat Charlie Wilson ran for re-election unopposed.

District 3

Incumbent Republican

James M. Collins James Mitchell Collins (April 29, 1916 – July 21, 1989) was an American businessman and a Republican who represented the Third Congressional District of Texas from 1968-1983. The district was based at the time around Irving in Dallas C ...

ran for re-election.

District 4

Incumbent Democrat

Ray Roberts Herbert Ray Roberts (March 28, 1913 – April 13, 1992) represented Texas's 4th congressional district from 1962 to 1981. He was a Democrat. Early life and education Roberts was born in rural Collin County, Texas in 1913. He grew up in the ran ...

ran for re-election.

District 5

Incumbent Republican

Alan Steelman Alan Watson Steelman (born March 15, 1942) is an American businessman from Dallas who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican congressman from Texas between 1973 and 1977; at the time of his election, he was the youngest sitting m ...

ran for re-election.

District 6

Incumbent Democrat

Olin E. Teague Olin Earl "Tiger" Teague (April 6, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was a World War II veteran and congressional representative for Texas's 6th congressional district for 32 years, from 1946 to 1978. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Bi ...

ran for re-election.

District 7

Incumbent Republican

Bill Archer William Reynolds Archer Jr. (born March 22, 1928) is a retired American lawyer and politician. Archer served two terms, from 1967 to 1971, in the Texas House of Representatives – changing from the Democratic to the Republican party in 1969 – ...

ran for re-election.

District 8

Incumbent Democrat Bob Eckhardt ran for re-election.

District 9

Incumbent Democrat Jack Brooks ran for re-election.

District 10

Incumbent Democrat

J. J. Pickle James Jarrell "Jake" Pickle (October 11, 1913 – June 18, 2005) was a United States Representative from the 10th congressional district of Texas from 1963 to 1995. Pickle was born in Roscoe, Texas and brought up in Big Spring. He acquired h ...

ran for re-election.

District 11

Incumbent Democrat

William R. Poage William Robert Poage (December 28, 1899 – January 3, 1987) was a Texas politician who was won election to the United States House of Representatives 21 times, serving 42 years. Early life and education William Robert "Bob" Poage was born in ...

ran for re-election.

District 12

Incumbent Democrat

Jim Wright James Claude Wright Jr. (December 22, 1922 – May 6, 2015) was an American politician who served as the 48th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1989. He represented Texas's 12th congressional district as a ...

ran for re-election.

District 13

Incumbent Republican Bob Price ran for re-election.

District 14

Incumbent Democrat

John Andrew Young John Andrew Young (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2002) was a Democratic politician from Texas who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1957 to 1979. Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Young attended Incarnate Word Academy and Corp ...

ran for re-election unopposed.

District 15

Incumbent Democrat

Kika de la Garza Eligio "Kika" de la Garza II (September 22, 1927March 13, 2017) was an American politician who served as the Democratic representative for the 15th congressional district of Texas from January 3, 1965, to January 3, 1997. Biography De la Garza ...

ran for re-election unopposed.

District 16

Incumbent Democrat Richard Crawford White ran for re-election unopposed.

District 17

Incumbent Democrat

Omar Burleson Omar Truman Burleson (March 19, 1906 – May 14, 1991) was an attorney, judge, FBI agent and veteran of World War II when he was first elected in 1946 as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Texas's 17th congressional district. He was re-elected ...

ran for re-election unopposed.

District 18

Incumbent Democrat

Barbara Jordan Barbara Charline Jordan (February 21, 1936 – January 17, 1996) was an American lawyer, educator, and politician. A Democrat, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and the first Southern African-A ...

ran for re-election.

District 19

Incumbent Democrat

George H. Mahon George Herman Mahon (September 22, 1900 – November 19, 1985) was a Texas politician who served twenty-two consecutive terms (1935–1979) as a member of the United States House of Representatives from the Lubbock-based 19th congressional distri ...

ran for re-election unopposed.

District 20

Incumbent Democrat Henry B. González ran for re-election unopposed.

District 21

Incumbent Democrat

O. C. Fisher Ovie Clark Fisher (November 22, 1903 – December 9, 1994) was an attorney and author who served for 32 years as the U.S. representative for Texas's 21st congressional district. Early life Fisher was born in Junction in Kimble County, Texas to ...

opted to retire rather than run for re-election.

District 22

Incumbent Democrat Robert R. Casey ran for re-election.

District 23

Incumbent Democrat

Abraham Kazen Abraham Kazen Jr., usually known as Chick Kazen (January 17, 1919 – November 29, 1987), was a U.S. Representative from Texas's 23rd congressional district, the first to serve in that particular position. Elected in 1966, Kazen served unti ...

ran for re-election unopposed.

District 24

Incumbent Democrat Dale Milford ran for re-election.

References

{{Elections in Texas footer

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...