Texas's 4th congressional district

"TX-4" redirects here. The term may also refer to Texas State Highway 4.

Not to be confused with Texas's 4th House of Representatives district.

Texas's 4th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives is in an area of Northeast Texas, that includes some counties along the Red River northeast of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, as well as some outer eastern suburbs of the Metroplex. Austin College in Sherman, Texas is located within the district. As of 2017, the 4th district represents 747,188 people who are predominantly white (80.8%) and middle-class (median family income is US$56,062, compared to $50,046 nationwide).^[2] It is currently represented by Pat Fallon.

Texas's 4th congressional district
District map
Representative	Pat Fallon R–Frisco
Distribution	51.15% rural^[1] 48.85% urban
Population (2022)	817,813^[2]
Median household income	$92,686^[2]
Ethnicity	74.51% White 13.28% Hispanic 10.47% Black 1.1% Asian 0.64% Native American
Cook PVI	R+16^[3]

District

All or portions of the following counties are in the 4th congressional district since 2023:^[4]

• Bowie County (part)
• Collin County (part)
• Delta County
• Denton County (part)
• Fannin County
• Grayson County
• Hopkins County
• Hunt County (part)
• Lamar County
• Rains County
• Red River County (part)
• Rockwall County

History

Texas has had at least four congressional districts since the State's senators and representatives were re-seated in Congress after the Civil War.^[5] The district's current configuration is dated from 1903. It has traditionally given its congressmen very long tenures in Washington; only six men have represented it since then.

Once a reliably Democratic district, the district swung rapidly into the Republican column at the federal level as Dallas' suburbs spilled into the western portion of the district. In fact, it has not supported a Democrat for president since 1964. However, as late as 1996, Bill Clinton carried ten of the sixteen counties that are currently in this district; many of those counties were in the 1st district at the time. Additionally, conservative Democrats continued to hold most of the district's local offices well into the 2000s.

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 the 4th district and into neighboring 1st, which made it significantly more Republican. In the process, the 4th district was pushed slightly to the north, picking up Texarkana from the 1st district.

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 he would almost certainly be succeeded by a Republican once he retired.^{[citation needed]}

In 2014, Hall was defeated in the Republican primary by John Ratcliffe, who had served as the former United States Attorney for much of the 4th's territory, and was additionally the former mayor of Heath—a city coincidentally located near Hall's hometown of Rockwall. No Democrat even filed, though by this time, the district had become so heavily Republican that any Democratic candidate would have faced nearly impossible odds in any event. Underlining just how Republican this district was, the Democrats have only managed as much as 30% of the vote once since Hall's party switch.

In January 2015, Ratcliffe took office, and became only the fifth person to hold the seat.^{[citation needed]} He ran unopposed for reelection in 2016, and defeated a nominal Democratic challenger in 2018.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2020, Ratcliffe resigned his seat ahead of his swearing-in to become the 6th Director of National Intelligence.^[6]

The district's best-known congressman was Sam Rayburn, the longtime Speaker of the House.^{[citation needed]}

President Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in the fourth district.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[7]

Election results from recent presidential races

Year	Result
2000	Bush 66 - 34%
2004	Bush 70 - 29%
2008	McCain 69 - 30%
2012^[8]	Romney 74 - 25%
2016^[8]	Trump 75 - 22%
2020	Trump 74 - 24%

List of members representing the district

Name	Party	Years	Cong– ress	Electoral history
District established March 4, 1863
District inactive		March 4, 1863 – March 31, 1870	37th 38th 39th 40th 41st	Civil War and Reconstruction
Edward Degener (San Antonio)	Republican	March 31, 1870 – March 3, 1871	41st	Elected in 1870. Lost renomination.
John Hancock (Austin)	Democratic	March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1875	42nd 43rd	Elected in 1870. Re-elected in 1872. Redistricted to the 5th district.
Roger Q. Mills (Corsicana)	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1883	44th 45th 46th 47th	Redistricted from the at-large seat and re-elected in 1874. Re-elected in 1876. Re-elected in 1878. Re-elected in 1880. Redistricted to the 9th district.
David B. Culberson (Jefferson)	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1897	48th 49th 50th 51st 52nd 53rd 54th	Redistricted from the 2nd district and re-elected in 1882. Re-elected in 1884. Re-elected in 1886. Re-elected in 1888. Re-elected in 1890. Re-elected in 1892. Re-elected in 1894. Retired.
John W. Cranford (Sulphur Springs)	Democratic	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1899	55th	Elected in 1896. Retired, then died on the last day of the term.
John Levi Sheppard (Texarkana)	Democratic	March 4, 1899 – October 11, 1902	56th 57th	Elected in 1898. Re-elected in 1900. Died.
Vacant		October 11, 1902 – November 15, 1902	57th
Morris Sheppard (Texarkana)	Democratic	November 15, 1902 – March 3, 1903		Elected to finish Sheppard's term. Redistricted to the 1st district.
Choice B. Randell (Sherman)	Democratic	March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1913	58th 59th 60th 61st 62nd	Redistricted from the 5th district and re-elected in 1902. Re-elected in 1904. Re-elected in 1906. Re-elected in 1908. Re-elected in 1910. Retired to run for U.S. senator.
Sam Rayburn (Bonham)	Democratic	March 4, 1913 – November 16, 1961	63rd 64th 65th 66th 67th 68th 69th 70th 71st 72nd 73rd 74th 75th 76th 77th 78th 79th 80th 81st 82nd 83rd 84th 85th 86th 87th	Elected in 1912. Re-elected in 1914. Re-elected in 1916. Re-elected in 1918. Re-elected in 1920. Re-elected in 1922. Re-elected in 1924. Re-elected in 1926. Re-elected in 1928. Re-elected in 1930. Re-elected in 1932. Re-elected in 1934. Re-elected in 1936. Re-elected in 1938. Re-elected in 1940. Re-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. Died.
Vacant		November 16, 1961 – January 30, 1962	87th
Ray Roberts (McKinney)	Democratic	January 30, 1962 – January 3, 1981	87th 88th 89th 90th 91st 92nd 93rd 94th 95th 96th	Elected to finish Rayburn's term. Re-elected in 1962. Re-elected in 1964. Re-elected in 1966. Re-elected in 1968. Re-elected in 1970. Re-elected in 1972. Re-elected in 1974. Re-elected in 1976. Re-elected in 1978. Retired.
Ralph Hall (Rockwall)	Democratic	January 3, 1981 – January 5, 2004	97th 98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th 112th 113th	Elected in 1980. Re-elected in 1982. Re-elected in 1984. Re-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. Lost renomination.
	Republican	January 5, 2004 – January 3, 2015
John Ratcliffe (Heath)	Republican	January 3, 2015 – May 22, 2020	114th 115th 116th	Elected in 2014. Re-elected in 2016. Re-elected in 2018. Resigned to become Director of National Intelligence.^[6]
Vacant		May 22, 2020 – January 3, 2021	116th
Pat Fallon (Frisco)	Republican	January 3, 2021 – present	117th 118th	Elected in 2020. Re-elected in 2022.

Recent elections

2004

US House election, 2004: Texas District 4^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph Hall (incumbent)	182,866	68.2
	Democratic	Jim Nickerson	81,585	30.4
	Libertarian	Kevin D. Anderson	3,491	1.3
Total votes			267,942
	Republican hold

2006

US House election, 2006: Texas District 4^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph Hall (incumbent)	106,495	64.43
	Democratic	Glenn Melancon	55,278	33.34
	Libertarian	Kurt G. Helm	3,496	2.11
Total votes			165,269
	Republican hold

2008

US House election, 2008: Texas District 4^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph Hall (incumbent)	206,906	68.79
	Democratic	Glenn Melancon	88,067	29.28
	Libertarian	Fred Annett	5,771	1.91
Total votes			300,744
	Republican hold

2010

US House election, 2010: Texas District 4^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph Hall (incumbent)	136,338	73.18
	Democratic	VaLinda Hathcox	40,975	21.99
	Libertarian	Jim D. Prindle	4,729	2.53
	Independent	Shane Shepard	4,224	2.27
Total votes			186,286
	Republican hold

2012

US House election, 2012: Texas District 4^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph Hall (incumbent)	182,679	72.97
	Democratic	VaLinda Hathcox	60,214	24.05
	Libertarian	Thomas Griffing	7,262	2.90
	Write-In	Fred Rostek	188	0.08
Total votes			250,343
	Republican hold

2014

US House election, 2014: Texas District 4^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Ratcliffe	115,085	100.00
Total votes			115,085
	Republican hold

2016

US House election, 2016: Texas District 4^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Ratcliffe (incumbent)	216,643	87.99
	Libertarian	Cody Wommack	29,577	12.01
Total votes			246,220
	Republican hold

2018

US House election, 2018: Texas District 4^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Ratcliffe (incumbent)	188,667	75.7
	Democratic	Catherine Krantz	57,400	23.0
	Libertarian	Ken Ashby	3,178	1.3
Total votes			249,245	100.0
	Republican hold

2020

US House election, 2020: Texas District 4

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Pat Fallon	253,837	75.1
	Democratic	Russell Foster	76,326	22.6
	Libertarian	Lou Antonelli	6,334	1.9
	Independent	Tracy Jones (write-in)	1,306	0.4
Total votes			337,803	100.0
	Republican hold

2022

US House election, 2022: Texas District 4

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Pat Fallon (incumbent)	170,781	66.7
	Democratic	Iro Omere	79,179	30.9
	Libertarian	John Simmons	6,049	2.4
Total votes			255,368	100.0
	Republican hold

Historical district boundaries

 

2007–2013

 

2013–2023

See also

• List of United States congressional districts

•  United States portal
•  Texas portal

References

1. "TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS BY URBAN AND RURAL POPULATION AND LAND AREA". US Census Bureau. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
2. Center for New Media & Promotion (CNMP). "My Congressional District". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 6, 2023.
3. "2022 Cook PVI: District Map and List". Cook Political Report. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
4. "District Population Analysis with County Subtotals | CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS - PLANC2193" (PDF). Capitol Data Portal. Texas Legislative Council. October 17, 2021. (PDF) from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
5. "Texas v, White Et. Al. 74 U.S. 700, 19 L.Ed. 227, 7 Wall. 700". December 1868.
6. "Divided Senate confirms Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe as director of national intelligence". May 22, 2020.
7. "2020 Election Districts". Texas Legislature Online. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
8. "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
9. Office of the Secretary of State (November 2, 2004). "Race Summary Report". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
10. Office of the Secretary of State (November 7, 2006). "Race Summary Report". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
11. Office of the Secretary of State (November 4, 2008). "Race Summary Report". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
12. Office of the Secretary of State (November 2, 2010). "Race Summary Report". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
13. Office of the Secretary of State (November 6, 2012). "Race Summary Report". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
14. Office of the Secretary of State (November 4, 2014). "Race Summary Report". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
15. Office of the Secretary of State (November 8, 2016). "Race Summary Report". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
16. Office of the Secretary of State (November 6, 2018). "Race Summary Report". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved January 19, 2019.

• 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

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Alabama's 7th congressional district	Home district of the speaker of the House September 16, 1940 – January 3, 1947	Succeeded by Massachusetts's 14th congressional district
Preceded by Massachusetts's 14th congressional district	Home district of the speaker of the House January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953	Succeeded by Massachusetts's 14th congressional district
Preceded by Massachusetts's 14th congressional district	Home district of the speaker of the House January 3, 1955 – November 16, 1961	Succeeded by Massachusetts's 12th congressional district

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