Texas's 4th congressional district

Texas's 4th congressional district
Texas's 4th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Current Representative	John Ratcliffe (R–Heath)
Distribution	48.85[1]% urban 51.15% rural
Population (2016)	735,554[2]
Median income	$52,481
Ethnicity	74.51% White 10.47% Black 1.1% Asian 13.28% Hispanic 0.64% Native American
Cook PVI	R+28[3]

Texas District 4 of the United States House of Representatives is a Congressional district that serves an area of Northeast Texas, that includes some counties along the Red River northeast of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. As of the 2000 census, District 4 represents 651,620 people who are predominantly Caucasian (80.8 percent) and middle-class (median family income is US$52,481, compared to $50,046 nationwide).^[4]

District

All or portions of the following counties are currently in the 4th congressional district:^[5]

• Bowie County
• Camp County
• Cass County
• Collin County
• Delta County
• Fannin County
• Franklin County
• Grayson County
• Hopkins County
• Hunt County
• Lamar County
• Marion County
• Morris County
• Rains County
• Red River County
• Rockwall County
• Titus County
• Upshur County

History

Texas has had at least four congressional districts since the state was readmitted to the Union after the Civil War. The district’s current seat dates from 1903; only five men have represented it since then.

Once a reliably Democratic district, the district swung rapidly into the Republican column as Dallas’ suburbs spilled into the western portion of the district. In fact, it has not supported a Democrat for president since 1964, nor did a Democrat file to run in the district in either the 2014 or 2016 elections. However, even as late as 1996, Bill Clinton carried ten of the sixteen counties currently in this district; many of those counties were in District 1 at the time. For many years, it was based in Tyler, but a controversial 2003 redistricting orchestrated by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay drew it and neighboring Longview out of District 4 and into neighboring District 1 which made District 1 significantly more Republican. In the process, District 4 was pushed slightly to the north, picking up Texarkana from District 1.

Ralph Hall, the one-time dean of the Texas congressional delegation, represented the district from 1981 to 2015. Originally a Democrat, he became a Republican in 2004. Hall’s voting record had been very conservative even by Texas Democratic standards, which served him well as the district abandoned its Democratic roots. By the turn of the century, he was the only elected Democrat above the county level in much of the district. He had been rumored as a party switcher for some time, and many experts believed his district was almost certain to be taken over by a Republican anyway once he retired.

Hall was defeated in the 2014 Republican primary by John Ratcliffe, a former United States Attorney and the former mayor of Heath, near Hall’s hometown of Rockwall. No Democrat even filed, though the district is so heavily Republican that any Democratic candidate would have faced nearly impossible odds in any event. Ratcliffe took office in January 2015, becoming only the fifth person to hold the seat.

The district’s best-known congressman was Sam Rayburn, the longtime Speaker of the House.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in the fourth district.

2012 redistricting

After the 2012 redistricting process, a large portion of Collin County had been removed, and replaced with the portion of Cass County that had been in Texas's 1st congressional district, all of Marion County, and a large portion of Upshur County.^[5]

Election results from recent presidential races

List of representatives

The district was created in 1869, one of two new districts that Texas gained after the 1860 Census, but was not filled due to the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Name	Party	Years	Electoral history
American Civil War/Reconstruction
Edward Degener	Republican	March 31, 1870 – March 3, 1871	Lost re-nomination
John Hancock	Democratic	March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1875	Redistricted to the 5th district
Roger Q. Mills	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883	Redistricted from the At-large district; Redistricted to the 9th district
David B. Culberson	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1897	Redistricted from the 2nd district
John W. Cranford	Democratic	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1899	Died
Vacant		March 3, 1899 – March 4, 1899
John Levi Sheppard	Democratic	March 4, 1899 – October 11, 1902	Died
Vacant		October 11, 1902 – November 15, 1902
Morris Sheppard	Democratic	November 15, 1902 – March 3, 1903	Redistricted to the 1st district
Choice B. Randell	Democratic	March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1913	Redistricted from the 5th district
Sam Rayburn	Democratic	March 4, 1913 – November 16, 1961	Died
Vacant		November 16, 1961 – January 30, 1962
Ray Roberts	Democratic	January 30, 1962 – January 3, 1981	Retired
Ralph Hall	Democratic	January 3, 1981 – January 5, 2004	First elected in 1980 Changed party in 2004 Lost renomination
	Republican	January 5, 2004 – January 3, 2015
John Ratcliffe	Republican	January 3, 2015 –	First elected in 2014

Recent elections

Historical district boundaries

2007 - 2013

See also

• List of United States congressional districts

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

Coordinates: 33°18′19″N 95°25′17″W / 33.30528°N 95.42139°W / 33.30528; -95.42139