Texas's 4th congressional district

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Texas's 4th congressional district
Current Representative		Ralph Hall (R)
Population (2000)	651,619
Median income	$38,276
Ethnicity	83.0% White, 10.4% Black, 0.6% Asian, 7.9% Hispanic, 0.8% Native American, 0.2% other
Cook PVI	R+21

Texas District 4 of the United States House of Representatives is a Congressional district that serves an area that includes some counties along the Red River north of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, including semi-rural Rockwall County and the large non-urbanized portion of Collin County. It then snakes down east of Dallas to include some counties in East Texas such as Van Zandt County and Rains County. As of the 2000 census, District 4 represents 651,620 people who are predominantly Caucasian (80.8%) and middle-class (median family income is US$46,086, compared to $50,046 nationwide).

Texas has had at least four congressional districts since the state was readmitted to the Union after the Civil War. The district's current seat dates from 1903; only four men have represented it since then.

Once a reliably Democratic district, the district swung rapidly into the Republican column as Dallas' suburbs spilled into the western portion of the district. In fact, it has not supported a Democrat for president since 1964. 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 District 4 and into neighboring District 1 which made District 1 significantly more Republican.

Ralph Hall, the current dean of the Texas congressional delegation, has represented the district since 1981. Originally a Democrat, he became a Republican in 2004. Congressman Ralph Hall has been a fence rider for many years, voting in large part with the Democratic party, and as needed with the Republican Party when his vote did not matter. He had been rumored as a party switcher for some time, and many experts believed his district was almost certain to be taken over by a Republican anyway once he retired. In 1996 a conservative Republican candidate Jerry Ray Hall, ran against Congressman Ralph Hall, and to the surprise of Republican conservatives, Senator Phil Gramm endorsed Congressman Ralph Hall, a Democrat at the time, campaigning with Congressman Hall throughout the districts. This enraged the Republican Women's groups to begin a movement to remove Senator Phil Gramm, which occurred 2002; he was not re-elected. Senator Gramm's wife Wendy's involvement with the downfall of Enron, as she was one of the board members, did not help the Senator's efforts to stay in office. Congressman Ralph Hall has proven to be in the middle of the road and has claimed he will retire every time his term comes up.

The district's best-known congressman was Sam Rayburn, the longtime Speaker of the House.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in the fourth district.

[edit] Representatives from Texas District 4

The district was created in 1869, one of two new districts that Texas gained after the 1860 Census, but was not filled due to the Civil War and Reconstruction.

• ^  Cranford died early in his second term and was succeeded by John L. Sheppard who was elected in a special election.
• ^  John L. Sheppard died in the middle of his term and was succeeded by his son, Morris Sheppard who was elected in a special election.
• ^  Rayburn died in late 1961 in the middle of his 25th term; Roberts succeeded him in a special election.
• ^  Hall switched his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican in 2004.

[edit] Election results

Ralph Hall's Democratic opponent in the 2006 election was Dr. Glenn Melancon.