The 1984 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas occurred on November 6, 1984, 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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

had twenty-seven seats in the House, apportioned according to the

1980 United States census The United States census of 1980, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4 percent over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 census. It was th ...

. Texas underwent mid-decade redistricting due to the District Court case Upham v. Seamon. The U.S. Department of Justice objected to the boundaries of

District 15 District 15 or 15th district can refer to: U.S. political districts Federal level * Illinois's 15th congressional district * Michigan's 15th congressional district * Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district * Ohio's 15th congressional district S ...

and

District 27 A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

adopted by 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 ar ...

in 1981 under preclearance established by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The court's modified districts were used in 1982, and the Legislature modified other districts in 1983, keeping the court-modified districts in place. These elections occurred simultaneously with the United States Senate elections of 1984, the United States House elections in other states, the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

, and various state and local elections. Democrats maintained their majority of U.S. House seats from Texas. Still, they lost four seats to the Republicans, who rode the coattails of president Ronald Reagan's re-election. The Republicans in those four seats, as well as two other freshmen Republicans, would later become known as the

Texas Six Pack The Texas Six Pack was a group of six freshmen Republican congressmen from Texas who were elected during the 1984 Ronald Reagan landslide victory over Walter Mondale. With their victories the Texas congressional delegation shifted from a 21-6 Dem ...

Overview

Congressional districts

District 1

Incumbent Democrat

Sam B. Hall Samuel Blakeley Hall Jr. (January 11, 1924 – April 10, 1994) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas's 1st congressional district from 1976 to 1985 and a United Sta ...

ran for re-election unopposed.

District 2

Incumbent Democrat Charlie Wilson ran for re-election. He faced four primary opponents but managed to avoid a runoff with 54 percent of the vote.

District 3

Incumbent Republican Steve Bartlett ran for re-election.

District 4

Incumbent Democrat

Ralph Hall Ralph Moody Hall (May 3, 1923 – March 7, 2019) was an American politician who served as the United States representative for from 1981 to 2015. He was first elected in 1980, and was the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Tec ...

ran for re-election.

District 5

Incumbent Democrat

John Wiley Bryant John Wiley Bryant (born February 22, 1947) is an American politician who represented Texas's 5th congressional district in the 98th to 104th U.S. Congress. Early life and education Bryant was born in Lake Jackson, Brazoria County, Texas. F ...

ran for re-election unopposed.

District 6

Incumbent Democrat Phil Gramm resigned after being removed from his seat on the

House Budget Committee The United States House Committee on the Budget, commonly known as the House Budget Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. Its responsibilities include legislative oversight of the federal budget process, ...

by Democratic leadership. He subsequently switched his party affiliation to the Republican Party and ran for his old seat in the ensuing

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. He had been planning to switch parties even before this occurred. Ronald Reagan had won the district in 1980, and Gramm's opponents cast the race as a referendum on Reganomics. Gramm won the race outright, avoiding a runoff and returning to Congress as a Republican. He retired at the end of his term to run for U.S. Senator.

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 Republican

Jack Fields Jack Milton Fields Jr. (born February 3, 1952) is a Texas businessman and a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from a Houston-based district. Early life Fields was born in Humble, a northern suburb of Hous ...

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 unopposed.

District 11

Incumbent Democrat

Marvin Leath James Marvin Leath (May 6, 1931 – December 8, 2000) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Texas. Born in Henderson, Texas, Leath attended the Rusk County public schools and graduated from Henderson High School ...

ran for re-election unopposed.

District 12

Incumbent Democrat Jim Wright ran for re-election unopposed.

District 13

Incumbent Democrat Jack Hightower ran for re-election.

District 14

Incumbent Democrat

Bill Patman William Neff Patman (March 26, 1927 – December 9, 2008) was an American politician who served from 1981 to 1985 as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for Texas's 14th congressional district. He was the son of Wri ...

ran for re-election.

District 15

Incumbent Democrat Kika de la Garza ran for re-election unopposed.

District 16

Incumbent Democrat

Ronald D. Coleman Ronald D'Emory Coleman (born November 29, 1941) is an American politician and former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas. Early life and career Born in El Paso, Texas, Coleman attended public schools, e ...

ran for re-election.

District 17

Incumbent Democrat

Charles Stenholm Charles Walter Stenholm (born October 26, 1938) is an American businessman and Democratic Party politician from a rural district of the State of Texas. After establishing himself as owner/operator of a large cotton farm, he entered politics and ...

ran for re-election unopposed.

District 18

Incumbent Democrat

Mickey Leland George Thomas "Mickey" Leland III (November 27, 1944 – August 7, 1989) was an anti-poverty activist who later became a congressman from the Texas 18th District and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. He was a Democrat. Early years Leland ...

ran for re-election.

District 19

Incumbent Democrat

Kent Hance Kent Ronald Hance (born November 14, 1942) is an American politician and lawyer who is the former Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System. In his role, he oversaw Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Ang ...

retired to run for U.S. Senator.

District 20

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

District 21

Incumbent Republican

Tom Loeffler Thomas Gilbert Loeffler (born August 1, 1946) is an American politician and Republican former member of the United States House of Representatives from central Texas. Loeffler was born in Fredericksburg in the heart of the Texas Hill Country an ...

ran for re-election.

District 22

Incumbent Republican Ron Paul retired to run for U.S. Senator.

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. He lost in the Democratic Primary to Albert Bustamante. Kazen was one of only three incumbent members of congress to lose a primary in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

District 24

Incumbent Democrat

Martin Frost Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

ran for re-election.

District 25

Incumbent Democrat

Michael A. Andrews Michael Allen Andrews (born February 7, 1944) is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas. He was elected as a Democrat to the 98th United States Congress and the five s ...

ran for re-election.

District 26

Incumbent Democrat

Tom Vandergriff Tommy Joe Vandergriff (January 29, 1926December 30, 2010) was a politician from Texas. He served as Mayor of Arlington from 1951 to 1977, as a U.S. Representative from from 1983 to 1985, and as County Judge of Tarrant County from 1991 to 2007 ...

ran for re-election. Mid-decade redistricting had made this district slightly more favorable to Democrats. The previous iteration of this district, which Vandergriff narrowly won in 1982, would have given Ronald Reagan 67 percent of the vote had it existed in 1980.

District 27

Incumbent Democrat

Solomon Ortiz Solomon Porfirio Ortiz (born June 3, 1937) is an American former politician who served as the U.S. representative for , based in Corpus Christi, serving from 1983 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. In 2010, Ortiz was narrowly de ...

ran for re-election.

References

{{Elections in Texas footer

1984 Texas elections