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Texas's 21st congressional district of the United States House of Representatives serves the area north of San Antonio and a significant portion of Austin in the state of Texas. Towns entirely or partially in this district include Boerne, Fredericksburg, Ingram, Kerrville, Kyle, New Braunfels, and San Marcos. The current Representative from the 21st district is Chip Roy.

Texas's 21st congressional district
Texas's 21st congressional district since January 3, 2013
Representative	Chip Roy R–Austin
Distribution	78.15% urban[1] 21.85% rural
Population (2021)	877,749[2]
Median household income	$80,922[2]
Ethnicity	61.78% White 30.23% Hispanic 3.74% Asian 3.73% Black 0.52% Native American
Cook PVI	R+5[3]

Demographics

According to the APM Research Lab's Voter Profile Tools[4] (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

Year	U.S. President	U.S. Senator	Governor
2000	Bush (R) 74 - 24%	—	—
2004	Bush (R) 66 – 34%	—	—
2008	McCain (R): 56 – 42%	[Data unknown/missing]	—
2012	Romney (R): 59.8 – 37.9%	Cruz (R): 58 – 37%	—
2016	Trump (R): 52.5 – 42.5%	—	—
2018	—	Cruz (R): 49.6 – 49.5%	Abbott (R): 55 – 43%
2020	Trump (R): 51 – 48%	—	—

List of members representing the district

Member	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
District created January 3, 1935
Charles L. South	Democratic	January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1943	74th 75th 76th 77th	Elected in 1934. Re-elected in 1936. Re-elected in 1938. Re-elected in 1940. [data unknown/missing]
O. C. Fisher	Democratic	January 3, 1943 – December 31, 1974	78th 79th 80th 81st 82nd 83rd 84th 85th 86th 87th 88th 89th 90th 91st 92nd 93rd	Elected in 1942. Re-elected in 1944. Re-elected in 1946. Re-elected in 1948. Re-elected in 1950. Re-elected in 1952. Re-elected in 1954. Re-elected in 1956. Re-elected in 1958. Re-elected in 1960. Re-elected in 1962. Re-elected in 1964. Re-elected in 1966. Re-elected in 1968. Re-elected in 1970. Re-elected in 1972. Retired.
Vacant		December 31, 1974 – January 3, 1975	93rd
Bob Krueger	Democratic	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1979	94th 95th	Elected in 1974. Re-elected in 1976. [data unknown/missing]
Tom Loeffler	Republican	January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1987	96th 97th 98th 99th	Elected in 1978. Re-elected in 1980. Re-elected in 1982. Re-elected in 1984. [data unknown/missing]
Lamar Smith	Republican	January 3, 1987 – January 3, 2019	100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th 112th 113th 114th 115th	Elected in 1986. Re-elected in 1988. Re-elected in 1990. Re-elected in 1992. Re-elected in 1994. Re-elected in 1996. Re-elected in 1998. Re-elected in 2000. Re-elected in 2002. Re-elected in 2004. Re-elected in 2006. Re-elected in 2008. Re-elected in 2010. Re-elected in 2012. Re-elected in 2014. Re-elected in 2016. Retired.
Chip Roy	Republican	January 3, 2019 – present	116th 117th	Elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020. Re-elected in 2022.

Recent election results

2004 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, District 21

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Lamar Smith (incumbent)	209,774	61.5%	-11.4%
	Democratic	Rhett Smith	121,129	35.5%	+10.2%
	Libertarian	Jason Pratt	10,216	3.0%	+1.1%
Majority			88,645	26.0%
Turnout			341,119
	Republican hold		Swing	-10.8%

2006

In the case of League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U. S. 399 (2006), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the configuration of Texas' 15th, 21st, 23rd, 25th and 28th congressional districts as drawn by the Texas Legislature violated the National Voting Rights Act of 1965. Replacement district boundaries for the 2006 election were subsequently issued for the five districts by the local federal district court, 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.[5]

In the 2006 election, Lamar Smith defeated veteran and college administrator John Courage with 60% of the vote.

2006 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, District 21

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Lamar Smith (incumbent)	122,486	60.1%	-1.4%
	Democratic	John Courage	49,957	24.51%	-10.99%
	Democratic	Gene Kelly	18,355	9%
	Independent	Tommy Ray Calvert Jr	5,280	2.59%
	Libertarian	James Arthur Strohm	4,076	2.0%	-1.0%
	Independent	James Lyle Peterson	2,189	1.07%
	Independent	Mark J. Rossano	1,439	0.7%
Majority
Turnout			203,782
	Republican hold		Swing

2008

2008 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, District 21

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Lamar Smith (incumbent)	243,471	79.99%	+19.89%
	Libertarian	James Arthur Strohm	60,879	20%	+18%
Majority			182,592
Turnout			304,350
	Republican hold		Swing

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 on June 23, 2009 to become a candidate.

2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, District 21

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Lamar Smith (incumbent)	169,924	68.9%	-11.09%
	Democratic	Lainey Melnick	65,834	27.9%	+3.39%
	Libertarian	James Arthur Strohm	7,687	3.3%	-16.7%
Majority			96929
Turnout			236,284
	Republican hold		Swing

2012

Incumbent Lamar Smith faced five challengers in the 2012 general election on November 6, 2012: Candace Duval (Dem), John-Henry Liberty (Lib), Fidel Castillo (Grn), Bill Stout (Grn), and Carlos Pena (Ind). [6]

2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, District 21

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lamar Smith (Incumbent)	187,015	60.55%
	Democratic	Candace E. Duval	109,326	35.40%
	Libertarian	John-Henry Liberty	12,524	4.05%
Total votes			308,865	100.0%

2014

2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, District 21

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lamar Smith (Incumbent)	135,513	71.80%
	Libertarian	Ryan Shields	25,483	13.50%
	Green	Antonio Diaz	27,782	14.70%
Total votes			188,778	100.0%

2016

2016 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, District 21

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lamar Smith (Incumbent)	202,523	57.00%
	Democratic	Tom Wakely	129,253	36.40%
	Libertarian	Mark Loewe	14,698	4.10%
	Green	Tony Diaz	8,520	2.40%
Total votes			354,994	100.0%

2018

Lamar Smith did not run for reelection in 2018.[7]

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),[8] 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.[9]

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.[10] No one received a majority in the March 6 primary,[11] 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.[12]

2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, District 21

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Chip Roy	176,913	50.3%
	Democratic	Joseph Kopser	167,020	47.5%
	Libertarian	Lee Santos	7,497	2.1%
Total votes			351,430	100.0%

2020

The incumbent, Chip Roy, was unopposed for the Republican nomination. Former state Senator Wendy Davis won the Democratic primary runoff.[13] 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.[14] Perennial candidate Arthur DiBianca is the Libertarian nominee,[15] but Roy joined a last-minute suit to strike his name and other similarly situated Libertarians from the ballot.[16]

Primary results

Democratic primary results [13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Wendy Davis	84,593	86.3
	Democratic	Jennie Lou Leeder	13,485	13.7
Total votes			98,078	100.0

General election

Texas's 21st congressional district, 2020[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Chip Roy (incumbent)	235,740	52.0
	Democratic	Wendy Davis	205,780	45.3
	Libertarian	Arthur DiBlanca	8,666	1.9
	Green	Tom Wakely	3,564	0.8
Total votes			453,750	100.0
	Republican hold

Historical district boundaries

See also

• List of United States congressional districts
• United States congressional delegations from Texas

References

• 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

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