Texas's 22nd congressional district
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Texas District 22 of the United States House of Representatives is the congressional district that covers a south-central portion of the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area. It includes the cities of Rosenberg and La Marque as well as portions of Missouri City and Pearland, in Fort Bend, Harris, Galveston, and Brazoria counties. Fifty-two percent of poll respondents identified themselves as Republicans, 32 percent as Democrats and 16 percent as independent.[1]
The district is represented by Democrat Nick Lampson.
Contents |
[edit] 2006 Election
On January 2, 2006, Nick Lampson filed to challenge Tom DeLay for the 2006 Election, as a Democrat. Lampson had represented the adjacent district ninth district) until DeLay engineered the 2003 Texas redistricting, which cost Lampson his seat to Ted Poe in 2004.
DeLay won the Republican primary on March 7, 2006, taking 62% of the vote in the 4-way race, [2], his lowest percentage of votes in a primary election and it prompted questions about whether he could win the general election. On April 3, 2006, three days after a former aide, Tony Rudy, pleaded guilty to various charges of corruption relating to the Jack Abramoff scandal, DeLay announced that he would withdraw from the race and not run for re-election. [3]
Under Texas law, however, the Republican Party could not legally name another candidate for the 2006 election.[4] DeLay announced on August 8, 2006 that he would withdraw in order for the GOP to organize a campaign for a write-in candidate.[5] The result was that no Republican was listed on the ballot for the two-year term that begins in January 2007.[6]
The Texas Republican Party decided to support Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs as their write-in candidate. [7]
Texas Governor Rick Perry announced on August 29, 2006, that a special election would take place for the unexpired term of DeLay (November-December 2006), coinciding with the general election on November 7, 2006. This meant that voters would vote twice on that date, once for the special election, once for the general election -- and it also meant that Sekula-Gibbs's name would be on a ballot for November 7. Lampson chose not to get involved in the special election.
The final result was that Shelley Sekula-Gibbs won the special election, and began representing the district for the remaining few weeks of the 109th United States Congress (she was sworn in on November 13, 2006). Sekula-Gibbs when entering Washington promised to fix health care, taxes, and immigration despite having two months in office. Due to her tantrum after President George W. Bush did not attend her inauguration, the entire holdover staff walked out despite forfeiting two months of pay for essentially three weeks of work. Nick Lampson won the general election (where Sekula-Gibbs had to compete as a write-in) and was sworn in on January 4, 2007.
[edit] Trivia
On the April 4, 2006 episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert retired the 22nd Congressional District from the "Better Know A District" board in "honor" of Tom DeLay's resignation. However, on June 8, 2006, the eve of his leaving Congress, the district returned to the board as it was featured on the segment as a satirical "tribute" to DeLay, and was then followed by a fake interview segment with clips from three interviews DeLay had done in the past spliced together. The district was put back into retirement at the end of the segment.
[edit] 2004 Election results
| U.S. House election, 2004: Texas District 22 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Republican | Tom DeLay | 150,386 | 55.2 | -8.0 | |
| Democratic | Richard Morrison | 112,034 | 41.1 | +6.0 | |
| Independent | Michael Fjetland | 5,314 | 1.9 | +1.9 | |
| Libertarian | Tom Morrison | 4,886 | 1.8 | +0.8 | |
| Majority | 38,352 | 14.1 | |||
| Turnout | 272,620 | ||||
| Republican hold | Swing | -7.0 | |||
[edit] 2006 Election results
| U.S. House election, 2006: Texas District 22 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Nick Lampson | 76,775 | 51.79 | ||
| Republican | Shelley Sekula-Gibbs | 61,938 | 41.78 | ||
| Libertarian | Bob Smither | 9,009 | 6.07 | ||
| Write-in | Don Richardson | 428 | 0.28 | ||
| Write-in | Joe Reasbeck | 89 | 0.06 | ||
| Majority | 14,837 | 10.01 | |||
| Turnout | 148,239 | ||||
| Democratic gain from Republican | Swing | 10.69 | |||
[edit] References
- ^ "Write-in for DeLay spot has a shot" by Kristen Mack, Houston Chronicle, October 30, 2006
- ^ Texas Secretary of State
- ^ Aulds, T.J.. "Tom DeLay to step down", The Galveston County Daily News, April 4, 2006., Bash, Dana. "Sources: DeLay to leave House re-election race", CNN, April 3, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-04-19.
- ^ Elliot, Janet. "Judge says DeLay 'withdrew': Statement may spell trouble for GOP, but 22nd District issue still awaits ruling", The Houston Chronicle, June 27, 2006.
- ^ David Espo. "DeLay Vows to Take Name Off Texas Ballot", Guardian Unlimited, August 8, 2006.
- ^ Texas Secretary of State list of candidates for the November 7, 2006 general election, accessed September 16, 2006
- ^ CBS News
| Texas's congressional districts |
|---|
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 See also: Texas's past & present Representatives, Senators, and Delegations All U.S. districts - Apportionment - Redistricting - Gerrymandering - Maps |
