Texas's 21st congressional district of 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 ...

serves the area north of

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

and a significant portion of

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

in the state of

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 ...

. Towns entirely or partially in this district include

Boerne Boerne ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kendall County, Texas, in the Texas Hill Country. Boerne is known for its German-Texan history, named in honor of German author and satirist Ludwig Börne by the German Founders of the town. The popu ...

, Fredericksburg, Ingram,

Kerrville Kerrville is a city in, and the county seat of, Kerr County, Texas, United States. The population of Kerrville was 24,278 at the 2020 census. Kerrville is named after James Kerr, a major in the Texas Revolution, and friend of settler- ...

Kyle Kyle or Kyles may refer to: Places Canada * Kyle, Saskatchewan, Canada Ireland * Kyle, County Laois * Kyle, County Wexford Scotland * Kyle, Ayrshire, area of Scotland which stretched across parts of modern-day East Ayrshire and South Ayrshir ...

New Braunfels New Braunfels ( ) is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas known for its German Texan heritage. It is the seat of Comal County. The city covers and had a population of 90,403 as of the 2020 Census. A suburb just north ...

, and

San Marcos San Marcos is the Spanish name of Saint Mark. It may also refer to: Towns and cities Argentina * San Marcos, Salta Colombia * San Marcos, Antioquia * San Marcos, Sucre Costa Rica * San Marcos, Costa Rica (aka San Marcos de Tarrazú) ...

. The current Representative from the 21st district is

Chip Roy Charles Eugene "Chip" Roy (born August 7, 1972) is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's . A member of the Republican Party, Roy took office on January 3, 2019. Before his election to Congress, he s ...

Demographics

According to the APM Research Lab's Voter Profile Tools (featuring the U.S. Census Bureau's 2019 American Community Survey), the district contained about 628,000 potential voters (citizens, age 18+). Of these, 65% are White and 26% are Latino. Immigrants make up 4% of the district's potential voters. Median income among households (with one or more potential voter) in the district is about $75,100, while 9% of households live below the poverty line. As for the educational attainment of potential voters in the district, 44% hold a bachelor's or higher degree.

Election results from statewide races

List of members representing the district

Recent election results

2006

In the case of ''

League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry ''League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry'', 548 U.S. 399 (2006), is a Supreme Court of the United States case in which the Court ruled that only District 23 of the 2003 Texas redistricting violated the Voting Rights Act. The Court refus ...

'', 548 U. S. 399 (2006), the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ruled that the configuration of Texas' 15th, 21st, 23rd, 25th and 28th congressional districts as drawn 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 ...

violated the

National Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...

. Replacement district boundaries for the 2006 election were subsequently issued for the five districts by the local

federal district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

, and on election day in November, these five districts had open primaries, with candidates being elected for receiving over 50 percent of the vote. Runoff elections were held in December to decide elections in which no candidate gained an absolute majority in November. In the 2006 election, Lamar Smith defeated veteran and college administrator John Courage with 60% of the vote.

2008

2010

In the 2010 election, Lamar Smith defeated Lainey Melnick with 68.9 percent of the vote. Melnick, an Austin real estate broker, officially filed papers with the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...

on June 23, 2009 to become a candidate.

2012

Incumbent Lamar Smith faced five challengers in the 2012 general election on November 6, 2012: Candace Duval (

Dem DEM was the ISO 4217 currency code for the Deutsche Mark, former currency of Germany Computing * Digital elevation model, a digital representation of ground-surface topography or terrain ** .dem, a common extension for USGS DEM files * Discret ...

), John-Henry Liberty (

Lib lib or Lib may refer to: Computing * Library (computing) ** .lib, a static library on Microsoft platforms ** , a directory on Unix-like systems * Lib-80, a Microsoft Library Manager tool; see Microsoft MACRO-80 People * Lib, one of two Jaredite ...

), Fidel Castillo ( Grn), Bill Stout (Grn), and Carlos Pena (

Ind Ind or IND may refer to: General * Independent (politician), a politician not affiliated to any political party * Independent station, used within television program listings and the television industry for a station that is not affiliated with ...

2014

2016

2018

Lamar Smith did not run for reelection in 2018. On the Republican side, 18 candidates competed in the March 6 primary, in which no one received a majority. The first- and second-place finishers were, respectively, attorney Chip Roy, who served as chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and senior advisor to Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), and Matt McCall, owner of a business providing human tissue for American military hospitals. Roy and McCall advanced to a May 22 runoff, which Roy won with 52.7% of the vote. On the Democratic side, four candidates ran to replace Smith: Joseph Kopser, entrepreneur and Army veteran; Derrick Crowe, activist; Elliott McFadden, executive director of Austin B-cycle; and Mary Street Wilson, pastor. No one received a majority in the March 6 primary, so the top two finishers, Wilson and Kopser, advanced to a runoff on May 22. Kopser flipped the primary result in the runoff against Wilson, winning the nomination with 58% of the vote.

2020

The incumbent,

, was unopposed for the Republican nomination. Former state Senator Wendy Davis won the Democratic primary runoff. Tom Wakely was nominated by the Green Party caucus. The state Supreme Court insured his inclusion after Wendy Davis tried unsuccessfully to have him removed from the ballot. Perennial candidate Arthur DiBianca is the Libertarian nominee, but Roy joined a last-minute suit to strike his name and other similarly situated Libertarians from the ballot.Republicans File Appeal to Texas Supreme Court to Remove Libertarian Candidates from Ballot
TheTexan, Brad Johnson, August 28, 2020. Retrieved August 28, 2020.

Primary results

General election

Historical district boundaries

References

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Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
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