Texas's 16th congressional district

Texas's 16th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives includes almost all of El Paso and most of its suburbs in the state of Texas. The current Representative is Democrat Veronica Escobar.

Texas's 16th congressional district
Texas's 16th congressional district since January 3, 2013
Representative	Veronica Escobar D–El Paso
Distribution	98.36% urban[1] 1.64% rural
Population (2019)	747,648[2]
Median household income	$49,013[3]
Ethnicity	81.03% Hispanic 77.0% White 14.74% other 3.60% Black 1.42% Asian 0.61% Native American
Cook PVI	D+17[4]

The district was initially created in 1903. For most of the next six decades, it stretched across 42,000 square miles (110,000 km²), from El Paso in the west to the Permian Basin (Midland and Odessa) in the east. However, after Texas' original 1960 district map was thrown out as a result of Wesberry v. Sanders, the 16th was shrunk down to the city of El Paso (except a sliver in the east) and most of its surrounding suburban communities.

Since the 1990s, the 16th has been the only Democratic bastion in heavily Republican West Texas. While it has been a majority-Hispanic district since the 1970s, only two Hispanics have ever represented it, Silvestre Reyes and Escobar.

Recent elections

2020

United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, 2020: District 16

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Veronica Escobar	154,108	64.07
	Republican	Irene Armendariz-Jackson	84,006	35.03
Majority
Turnout			238,114
	Democratic hold

2018

United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, 2018: District 16

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Veronica Escobar	124,437	68.46
	Republican	Rick Seeberger	49,127	27.03
	Independent	Ben Mendoza	8,147	4.48
Majority			75,310	41.43
Turnout			181,754
	Democratic hold

2016

United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, 2016: District 16

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Beto O'Rourke	150,228	85.73
	Libertarian	Jaime Perez	17,491	9.98
	Green	Mary Gourdoux	7,510	4.29
Majority
Turnout			175,229
	Democratic hold

Election results from presidential races

Year	Office	Result
2000	President	Gore 59 - 41%
2004	President	Kerry 56 - 44%
2008	President	Obama 66 - 33%
2012	President	Obama 64 - 35%
2016	President	Clinton 67 - 27%
2020	President	Biden 66 - 32%

List of members representing the district

Representative	Party	Years	Cong ess	Electoral history
District created March 4, 1903
William Robert Smith	Democratic	March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1917	58th 59th 60th 61st 62nd 63rd 64th	[data unknown/missing]
Thomas L. Blanton	Democratic	March 4, 1917 – March 3, 1919	65th	Redistricted to the 17th district.
Claude Benton Hudspeth	Democratic	March 4, 1919 – March 3, 1931	66th 67th 68th 69th 70th 71st	[data unknown/missing]
R. Ewing Thomason	Democratic	March 4, 1931 – July 31, 1947	72nd 73rd 74th 75th 76th 77th 78th 79th 80th	Resigned to become U.S. District Judge.
Vacant		July 31, 1947 – August 23, 1947	80th
Kenneth M. Regan	Democratic	August 23, 1947 – January 3, 1955	80th 81st 82nd 83rd	Lost renomination.
J. T. Rutherford	Democratic	January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1963	84th 85th 86th 87th	Lost re-election.
Ed Foreman	Republican	January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1965	88th	Lost re-election.
Richard C. White	Democratic	January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1983	89th 90th 91st 92nd 93rd 94th 95th 96th 97th	Retired.
Ronald D. Coleman	Democratic	January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1997	98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th	Retired.
Silvestre Reyes	Democratic	January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2013	105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th 112th	Lost renomination.
Beto O'Rourke	Democratic	January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2019	113th 114th 115th	Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
Veronica Escobar	Democratic	January 3, 2019 – present	116th 117th	Elected in 2018.

Historical district boundaries

2007 - 2013

See also

• List of United States congressional districts

References

1. Geography, US Census Bureau. "Congressional Districts Relationship Files (state-based)". www.census.gov.
2. Bureau, Center for New Media & Promotion (CNMP), US Census. "My Congressional District". www.census.gov.
3. https://www.census.gov/mycd/?st= 48&cd= 16
4. "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.

• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present