The 1994 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas occurred on November 8, 1994, to elect the members of the state of Texas's delegation to the United States House of Representatives. Texas had thirty seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States census.
In early 1994, several Republicans sued the state alleging that District 18 and District 29 were racially gerrymandered.[1]District 30 was later added to the case, and in August, a federal judicial panel ordered the state to redraw its congressional districts.[2] A separate panel later allowed the struck districts to be used for the 1994 elections, but it ordered the state to redraw its districts before the 1996 elections.[3] This decision was later appealed and became the Supreme Court case Bush v. Vera.[4]
These elections occurred simultaneously with the United States Senate elections of 1994, the United States House elections in other states, and various state and local elections.
Amidst the Republican Revolution, in which the Republican Party took control of the U.S. House for the first time since 1952, Republicans gained two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas and won the statewide popular vote, but Democrats maintained their majority of Texas seats due to redistricting.[5]
Incumbent Democrat Jack Brooks ran for re-election. Republican Steve Stockman, who had lost to Brooks in 1992, defeated the 42-year incumbent as suburban Republican voters came to increasingly dominate the district.[7]
Incumbent Democrat Michael A. Andrews retired to run for U.S. Senator.[11] Despite the national Republican wave, Democrat Ken Bentsen, the nephew of Treasury Secretary and former U.S. SenatorLloyd Bentsen, defeated businessman Gene Fontenot in the open race. The race was the most expensive U.S. House race in Texas history; Fontenot had outspent Bentsen four to one.[12]
Incumbent Republican Dick Armey ran for re-election. He became the first Texas Republican to be elected majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives.[5]
Government
