Texas's 25th Congressional District
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Texas's 25th 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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
stretches from Arlington and Fort Worth to some of its outer southwestern suburbs, as well as rural counties east of Abilene. The district's current Representative is Roger Williams.


History

The 25th district was created as a result of the redistricting cycle after the
1980 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 ...
. The district was originally anchored in the southern parts of
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
and Harris County, including the
Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrat ...
, the
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, Astroworld and the southern shores of the
Houston Ship Channel The Houston Ship Channel, in Houston, Texas, is part of the Port of Houston, one of the busiest seaports in the world. The channel is the conduit for ocean-going vessels between Houston-area terminals and the Gulf of Mexico, and it serves an in ...
, as well as
Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities ...
,
Hobby Airport William P. Hobby Airport (colloquially referred to as Hobby Airport, Houston Hobby, or simply Hobby) is an international airport in Houston, Texas, located from downtown Houston. Hobby is Houston's oldest commercial airport, and was its primar ...
and
Ellington Field Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base is a joint installation shared by various active component and reserve component military units, as well as aircraft flight operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the aegis ...
. An economically and racially diverse district that narrowly favored Ronald Reagan in 1980, the 25th encompassed such a diverse collection of Houston neighborhoods including both the middle-class suburban neighborhoods of Westbury and Meyerland in southwest Houston (the latter also being the center of Houston's Jewish community) and Park Place and Glenbrook Valley in southeast Houston, the majority African-American neighborhoods of Sunnyside and South Park in southern Houston and Harris County, and much of southeast Harris County including northern parts of the
Clear Lake City Clear Lake City is a master-planned community located in southeast Harris County, Texas, within the Bay Area of Greater Houston. It is the second-largest master-planned community in Houston – behind Kingwood. The majority of the communit ...
master-planned community in southeast Houston and such working-class suburbs as
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, Deer Park, La Porte and Seabrook. Much of this area previously comprised the northern half of the previous 22nd district represented by conservative Republican Ron Paul, and at the time was largely prosperous as Houston continued to benefit from the oil boom of the previous decade that resulted in thousands moving to the Houston area during this time, as well as from growing medical and space industry sectors that benefited respectively from both the increased prominence of the Med Center and the launch of the
Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. I ...
. In the 1980 election, Paul narrowly defeated former Harris County assistant district attorney
Mike Andrews Michael Jay Andrews (born July 9, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an infielder for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics. After his playing career, he served fo ...
in his 1980 reelection to a second full term, largely on the basis of his strong support in the then-emerging Republican stronghold of
Fort Bend County Fort Bend County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The county was founded in 1837 and organized the next year. It is named for a blockhouse at a bend of the Brazos River. The community developed around the fort in early days. Th ...
as well as his home county of Brazoria. While Paul's 22nd district was redrawn into a heavily Republican seat comprising the aforementioned emerging suburban counties, along with a largely Republican section of southwest Houston and Harris County along the Southwest Freeway (what eventually became Interstate 69), that he would win reelection in 1982, the new 25th took in much of the former 22nd's Democratic-leaning Harris County portion. In the 1982 election, Andrews was the Democratic nominee for the new district against Republican attorney Mike Faubion, winning 60.4 percent of the vote in a district whose voters largely favored President Reagan's economic program but otherwise favored abortion rights and defense spending. Despite Republican landslides in 1984 by Reagan and in 1988 by adopted son and Vice President George H. W. Bush, Andrews would go on to win reelection easily, with his reelection in 1984 against future state senator and Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson (in which Andrews won 64 percent of the vote) being the closest the district came to being competitive during its original iteration, and even ran unopposed in 1986 and 1990 as the district was hit hard by the impact of the
1980s oil glut The 1980s oil glut was a serious surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1970s energy crisis. The world price of oil had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel (equivalent to $ per barrel in dollars, when adjusted for inf ...
that deeply affected Houston's economy, including plummeting real estate values, rising crime numbers and dramatic racial shifts in parts of the district where Anglo residents moved out to suburban areas south of the city including
Sugar Land Sugar Land is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a populous suburban municipality centered around ...
,
Pearland Pearland ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Brazoria County, with portions extending into Fort Bend and Harris counties. The city of Pearland is a principal city within the metropolitan statistical area. At the 2020 U.S. census, t ...
,
Missouri City Missouri City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, Texas, Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County, Texas, Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the c ...
and Friendswood. The 25th district was radically altered in the 1992 and 1994 elections, with many majority Black and Hispanic precincts moved into the 18th district of Democrat
Craig Washington Craig Anthony Washington (born October 12, 1941) is an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician from Texas who served in the Texas State Senate and the United States House of Representatives. The son of Roy and Azalia Washington, Washi ...
and the new majority-Hispanic 29th district that would be won by Anglo Democrat
Gene Green Raymond Eugene Green (born October 17, 1947) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for , serving for 13 terms. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district included most of eastern Houston, including portion ...
, respectively. The new district would take a combination of mostly white moderate and working-class communities in southwest and southeast Houston as well as southern and eastern Harris County, including most of Pasadena,
Baytown Baytown may refer to: * Baytown, Texas, a city in the United States near Houston, Texas *Baytown culture, an archaeological culture in the United States *Operation Baytown Operation Baytown was an Allied amphibious landing on the mainland o ...
and
Channelview Channelview is a census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas on the eastside of Houston, Harris County. The population was 45,688 at the 2020 U.S. census. History Channelview was given its name since it is located on the nort ...
along with the Texas Medical Center, along with an eastern spur of Fort Bend County including a mostly Black southwest section of the city of Houston. In this new iteration, Andrews would face his toughest reelection to date in 1992 against Republican challenger Dolly Madison McKenna, who polled 41.4 percent of the vote to 56 percent for Andrews. After Andrews vacated the seat to make an unsuccessful run for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 1994 against Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, Democratic investment banker
Ken Bentsen Kenneth Edward Bentsen Jr. (born June 3, 1959) is an American lobbyist and former politician from Texas, serving four terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He is the nephew of former senator and secretary of the ...
, the nephew of former U.S. Senator and then-Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen, won the seat in a close race with 52.3 percent of the vote against Republican opponent Gene Fontenot who polled 45 percent. After the 18th and 29th districts were struck down by the Supreme Court in Bush v. Vera as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander in 1996, the 25th would be altered into a more compact district that stayed entirely within Harris County, stretching from the Westchase and
Alief Alief is a working-class suburb in Southwest Harris County, Texas, Harris County, Texas, United States. Most of Alief is within the city limits of Houston, while a portion of the community is in Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated ...
areas of southwest Houston, through southern parts of Houston and Harris County, stretching all the way to the eastern parts of the Houston Ship Channel and Harris County, encompassing such suburbs as upper-middle class Bellaire and
West University Place West University Place, often called West University or West U for short, is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area and southwestern Harris County. At the 2020 U.S. census, the population of the city was 14,955. ...
in the west and working-class Baytown and Pasadena in the east. In the 1996 special election (conducted as such as the 1996 primaries had already taken place when the districts were struck down), Bentsen would go on to win over 57 percent of the vote against Mike Andrews' 1992 opponent, Dolly Madison McKenna. The contest by McKenna would mark the beginning of a series of competitive but underdog Republican challenges for the seat over four cycles; in 1998 Bentsen would win 58 percent against Republican challenger John Sanchez, while in 2000 he polled 60 percent against Republican Phil Sudan. After Bentsen retired to make an unsuccessful run for the Democratic nomination for the open U.S. Senate of retiring Republican Phil Gramm in 2002, former
Houston City Council The Houston City Council is a city council for the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Currently, there are sixteen members, 11 elected from council districts and five at-large. The members of the Council are elected every four years, w ...
member Chris Bell defeated Republican Tom Reiser with less than 55 percent of the vote in a district that stretched from the affluent
River Oaks River Oaks is a residential community located in the center of Houston, Texas, United States. Located within the 610 Loop and between Downtown and Uptown, the community spans .Archive Established in the 1920s by brothers Will Hogg and Michael H ...
neighborhood west of downtown Houston to much of southwest and southeast Houston, along with all or parts of many of the same working-class suburbs east of Houston that had been in the previous 25th including southern parts of Pasadena and most of Baytown,
Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...
and La Porte.


21st-century redistricting cycles

In 2003, after Republicans gained control of the
Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...
for the first time since
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, the new Republican majority (with outside assistance from then-U.S. House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1985 until 2006. He was Republic ...
from the neighboring 22nd district, where he had succeeded Ron Paul in 1984) radically altered the state's congressional map. The 25th district of Chris Bell's was dismantled with Bell's southwest Houston residence moved into the neighboring 7th district of two-term Republican
John Culberson John Abney Culberson (born August 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2019. A Republican, he served in in large portions of western Houston and surrounding Har ...
and much of the 25th redrawn into the new 9th district, which had been unmoored from its historical location in
Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Ga ...
and had extended as far east as
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at the time. While Bell ultimately sought reelection the following year in the new 9th where he lost to fellow Democrat Al Green in the Democratic primary, the new 25th now stretched from
McAllen McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States, and the 22nd-most populous city in Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexico–United States border. The city limits extend ...
, at the U.S.-Mexico border, all the way to a heavily Democratic southeastern portion of Austin and was informally referred to by political pundits and the Texas press as "the fajita strip". The new district would be won by incumbent Democrat
Lloyd Doggett Lloyd Alton Doggett II (born October 6, 1946) is an American attorney and politician who is a U.S. representative from Texas. A member of the Democratic Party, he has represented a district based in Austin since 1995, currently numbered as ...
, who had previously represented the neighboring 10th district since being elected in 1994. After a lawsuit resulted in the 23rd district of Republican
Henry Bonilla Henry Bonilla (born January 2, 1954) is a former congressman who represented Texas's 23rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He was defeated in his bid for re-election by Ciro Rodriguez, a former Democratic mem ...
being struck down, the 25th was redrawn again, this time with the district now stretching from most of central and southeast Austin to several heavily Republican rural counties southeast of Austin (see below); Doggett nonetheless won reelection in 2006 and 2008 with little difficulty. However, in 2010 Doggett faced his toughest reelection, winning 53 percent of the vote against Republican physician and future state senator Donna Campbell. In July 2011, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law a redistricting plan ("C185"), approved by the Texas legislature in June, which gave the 25th district a completely different geography for the 2012 elections, including part of
Travis County Travis County is located in south central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county was established in 1840 and is n ...
, and stretching as far north as Johnson County, south of Fort Worth. The redistricting split Travis County into five districts, four of which were heavily Republican. As a result, the only realistic place for Lloyd Doggett to run in was the new 35th district (which by weight of population is more of a San Antonio district than an Austin district); Doggett nonetheless won reelection in the new 35th. Former
Texas Secretary of State The Secretary of State of Texas is one of the six members of the executive department of the State of Texas in the United States. Under the Constitution of Texas, the appointment is made by the governor of Texas, with confirmation by the Texas ...
and auto dealer Roger Williams, who had previously been a candidate for the U.S. Senate as early as 2010 while Kay Bailey Hutchison was still serving (she would eventually retire the following year and would be succeeded in 2012 by
Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...
), ultimately won a crowded Republican primary and would go on to win comfortable margins or better in a district where Democrats were only competitive in the western Travis County portion of the district (which includes some of the most Republican areas in the county including much of the area surrounding
Lake Travis Lake Travis is a reservoir on the Colorado River in central Texas in the United States. Serving principally as a flood-control reservoir, Lake Travis' historical minimum to maximum water height change is nearly 100 feet. In 2018 alone, it saw ...
; Mitt Romney won 60 percent of the vote in the new district in 2012. His closest reelection came in the 2018 election, where Williams won 53.5 percent of the vote against Democratic challenger Julie Oliver and would go on to win less than 56 percent against Oliver in a rematch, as the district gave 55 percent of the vote to
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
in 2016 and 2020 with Trump losing the Travis County portion by large margins. For a number of years, there was a consolidated lawsuit against the redistricting; in March 2017, a panel of federal judges ruled that the new 35th district and two others were illegally drawn with discriminatory intent. However, the district was allowed to stand in the Supreme Court's 2018 Abbott v. Perez ruling. For the 2022 election, the 25th was redrawn into a district anchored in the southwest corner of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, including a southern portion of Tarrant County encompassing most of Arlington including AT&T Stadium,
Globe Life Field Globe Life Field is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers. It is located just south of Choctaw Stadium, the Rangers' former home ballpark. History Background On Ma ...
and
Six Flags Over Texas Six Flags Over Texas is a 212-acre (86 ha) amusement park, in Arlington, Texas, east of Fort Worth and west of Dallas. It is the first amusement park in the Six Flags chain, and features themed areas and attractions. The park opened on August 5, ...
, as well as most or all of several rural counties between the Metroplex and Abilene. Donald Trump won less than 65 percent of the vote in this new district, with only the Tarrant County portion considered competitive. Roger Williams won reelection unopposed in the new 25th district, which includes Weatherford where he owns an automobile dealership.


Recent election results from statewide races


List of members representing the district


Recent elections


2004


2006

On June 28, 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 ...
declared that 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 ...
's 2003 redistricting plan violated the
Voting Rights Act 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 ...
in the case of the 23rd district. The main basis for the ruling was that the old 23rd was a protected majority-Hispanic district—in other words, if the 23rd was redrawn in a way to put Hispanics in a minority, a new majority-Hispanic district had to be created. Since the 25th was not compact enough to be an acceptable replacement, the 23rd had to be struck down. The size of the 23rd required the redrawing of nearly every district from
El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...
to
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= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...
. As a result, on August 4, 2006, a three-judge panel announced replacement district boundaries for 2006 election for the 23rd district, as well as for the 15th, 21st, 25th and 28th districts. On election day in November, these five districts held open primaries; if any candidate received over 50%, they were elected. Otherwise, a runoff election in December decided the seat. The redrawn 25th was more compact and restricted to Central Texas, comprising more of
Travis County Travis County is located in south central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county was established in 1840 and is n ...
, most of Bastrop County, and all of Hays, Caldwell, Fayette, Gonzales, Lavaca, and
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
Countie

Incumbent congressman Doggett faced Republican Party (United States), Republican Grant Rostig (formerly the Libertarian nominee), independent candidate Brian Parrett, and
Libertarian Party Active parties by country Defunct parties by country Organizations associated with Libertarian parties See also * Liberal parties by country * List of libertarian organizations * Lists of political parties Lists of political part ...
Barbara Cunningham, and won re-election.


2008

In the 2008 election Doggett faced Republican George Morovich, a structural engineer from La Grange and Libertarian Jim Stutsman, a retired Army veteran. Doggett won with 65.8% of the vote to Morovich's 30.5% and Stutsman's 3.7%. Doggett won 73.8% of the vote in his Austin-based stronghold of Travis County.


2010

Dogget faced Republican and "Tea Party favorite" Donna Campbell, and again held his seat, though by a surprisingly small margin. "Doggett Declares Victory"
''
Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...
'' November 2, 2010.


2012

The new district boundaries were more favorable to Republicans, as had been foreseen.


2014


2016


2018


2020


References

*
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
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