Texas 16th Congressional District
Rene Seiler
Texas's 16th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives includes almost all of El Paso and most of its suburbs in the state of Texas. The current Representative is Democrat Veronica Escobar.
The district was initially created in 1903. For most of the next six decades, it stretched across 42,000 square miles (110,000 km2), from El Paso in the west to the Permian Basin (Midland and Odessa) in the east. However, after Texas' original 1960 district map was thrown out as a result of Wesberry v. Sanders, the 16th was shrunk down to the city of El Paso (except a sliver in the east) and most of its surrounding suburban communities.
Since the 1990s, the 16th has been the only Democratic bastion in heavily Republican West Texas. While it has been a majority-Hispanic district since the 1970s, only two Hispanics have ever represented it, Silvestre Reyes and Escobar.
The United States is divided into 435 congressional districts, each with a population of about 710,000 individuals. Each district elects a representative to the U.S. House of Representatives for a two-year term. Representatives are also called congressmen/congresswomen.
Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent Beto O'Rourke (D) defeated Jaime Perez (L) and Mary Gourdoux (G) in the general election on November 8, 2016. O'Rourke defeated Ben Mendoza in the Democratic primary on March 1, 2016. No Republicans filed to run in the race.[1][2]
The 16th Congressional District of Texas held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Beto O'Rourke (D) defeated Corey Roen (R) and Jaime Perez (L) in the general election.
The 16th Congressional District of Texas held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012, in which Beto O'Rourke (D) won. He defeated Barbara Carrasco (R) and Junart Sodoy (L) in the general election.[3]
Texas enacted new congressional districts on October 25, 2021. The Senate released a proposed congressional map on September 27, 2021, and approved an amended version of the proposal on October 8, 2021.[15] On October 13, 2021, the House Redistricting Committee approved an amended version of the congressional map, and both chambers of the legislature approved a finalized version of the map on October 18, 2021. The Senate approved the proposal in an 18-13 vote, and the House approved the bill in an 84-59 vote.[16] Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed the map into law on October 25, 2021.[17] This map took effect for Texas' 2022 congressional elections.
How does redistricting in Texas work? In Texas, both congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn by the Texas State Legislature. These lines are subject to veto by the governor.[18]
If the state legislature is unable to approve a state legislative redistricting plan, a backup commission must draw the lines (the backup commission is not involved in congressional redistricting). This backup commission, established in 1948, comprises the following members:[18]
Following the 2010 United States Census, Texas gained four congressional seats. Texas' final congressional redistricting plan was approved by the Texas Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Perry (R) in June 2013.[19][20][21]
Heading into the 2022 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+17. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 17 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Texas' 16th the 81st most Democratic district nationally.[22]
Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have received 67.0% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 31.5%.[23]
Heading into the 2018 elections, based on results from the 2016 and 2012 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+17. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 17 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Texas' 16th Congressional District the 80th most Democratic nationally.[24]
FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 1.07. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.07 points toward that party.[25]
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All 435 U.S. House seats are up for election in 2024. Republicans have a 220 to 212 majority with three vacancies.[1] As of June 2024, 45 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.
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Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Texas in 2024. Information below was calculated on 1/29/2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.
Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.[7] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.
Also referred to as a congressman or congresswoman, each representative is elected to a two-year term serving the people of a specific congressional district. The number of voting representatives in the House is fixed by law at no more than 435, proportionally representing the population of the 50 states. Currently, there are five delegates representing the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. A resident commissioner represents Puerto Rico. Learn more about representatives at The House Explained.
The district is different but still focused on some key features in the Borderland such as Fort Bliss Army Post, relations with Mexico and New Mexico, immigration, economic development and homeland security.
Fort Bliss, which stretches from El Paso to southern New Mexico, has been a part of the landscape since 1848. It is an important installation in the Department of Defense. It is home, in part, to the 1st Armored Division, the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, the Joint Modernization Command and the William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
Members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms. They are paid $174,000 annually and have full-coverage health insurance. They also have taxpayer money for staffing and district offices. Members can be selected to serve on select House committees, which oversee important federal functions.
The District 16 member of Congress deals with a number of key national and local issues such as access to health care, pandemic recovery, updates to the ports of entry, Social Security and drug and human trafficking.
Aside from those topics, we asked the candidates about inflation, assault weapons, access to health care for women, climate change and immigration reform. Equally, important we asked the candidates a critical question about government transparency. In a nutshell, how will they remain open and accountable to voters.
I was born in El Paso in 1970 in the Segundo Barrio at Newark Hospital which no longer exists. I was born to Mexican legal immigrants, Ernesto and Graciela Armendariz. I grew up in the Chelmont area and I went to Hughey Elementary, Ross Middle School and I graduated from Burges HS in 1988. I have two sisters and one brother. My husband Bill and I have been married almost 29 years and we have three daughters, one son-in-law and four grandchildren and another precious baby on the way.
I graduated from Burges HS in 1988, my Bachelors is in Business from Howard Payne University and my Masters Degree is from Regent University in Government with a concentration in law and public policy.
The House fought for and passed the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act that would reduce food prices in the grocery store while also expanding access to cleaner fuel options. House Democrats also passed the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act, which makes it illegal to sell gas at artificially high prices and protects independent and family-owned gas stations from Big Oil when they raise prices. Both these bills have my support, but they were not allowed to move forward in the Senate because there was no Republican Senator willing to side with the American consumer. Legislation to lower the cost of groceries, cap insulin costs for all Americans, expand child tax credits, take on big oil companies who are price gouging consumers, and other cost-saving measures had my support and votes, but these bills were all blocked in the Senate by Republicans.
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