Texas's 21st congressional district
| Texas's 21st congressional district | |
|---|---|
Texas's 21st congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
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| Current Representative | Lamar S. Smith (R–San Antonio) |
| Population (2015) | 771,369 |
| Median income | 57,219 |
| Ethnicity |
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| Cook PVI | R+12 (2014) |
Texas District 21 of the United States House of Representatives is a Congressional district that serves the area north of San Antonio and a significant portion of Austin in the state of Texas. The current Representative from District 21 is Lamar S. Smith. He ran for re-election in 2012.
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 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 a candidate being elected if he or she received over 50 percent of the vote, and runoff elections in December to decide elections in which no candidate gained an absolute majority in November.
In the 2006 election, Lamar Smith defeated veteran and college administrator John Courage with 60% of the vote.
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.
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).
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