Texas's 14th congressional district

Infobox U.S. congressional district
state=Texas
district number=14

---

image width=350
representative = Ron Paul
party = Republican
population=651,619
population year=2000
median income=41,335
percent white=75.3
percent black=10.0
percent asian=1.7
percent native american=0.5
percent hispanic=24.9
percent other race=0.3
cpvi=R+14

Texas's 14th district for the United States House of Representatives is a Congressional district that covers the area south and southwest of the Greater Houston region, including Galveston, in the state of Texas. The district was created as a result of the 1900 U.S. Census and was first contested in 1902. Its first representative—Democrat James L. Slayden, who had served another district in Congress since 1897—began representing the 14th in March 1903 as a member of the 58th United States Congress. The district's shift to the Republican Party in the 1980s has been attributed to the influence of the Ronald Reagan era. The district's current representative is Ron Paul.

List of representatives

Election results

1928

Incumbent Harry M. Wurzbach successfully contested the 1928 election of Augustus McCloskey to the 71st United States Congress, and replaced McCloskey as representative on February 10 1930.

1996

In "one of the stranger Congressional elections of modern times", incumbent Greg Laughlin switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican side in 1995, and the Republican National Committee, hoping to encourage other Democrats to switch parties, threw its full support behind Laughlin. Laughlin had support from Republican leaders, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Governor George W. Bush, and the National Rifle Association and other interest groups.cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2519/is_n6_v17/ai_18535311|title=Paul vs. Laughlin — Ron Paul's campaign against Representative Greg Laughlin|last=Beiler|first=David|date=1996-06|publisher=Campaigns and Elections] Ron Paul, an ob/gyn and former U.S. Representative from Texas's 22nd congressional district, opposed Laughlin, hopeful of having more influence in Congress after the Republicans took over both houses in the 1994 election.cite web|url=http://calbears.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_199806/ai_n8799789|title=Paul vs. Sneary|date=1998-06-26|accessdate=2007-09-27|work=Human Events] Though Laughlin defeated Paul in the open primary, a runoff between the two candidates followed.

While Gingrich and other Republican leaders visited the district stumping for Laughlin, Paul ran newspaper ads quoting Gingrich's harsh criticisms of Laughlin's voting record 14 months earlier, before Laughlin had switched parties. Baseball pitcher (and constituent) Nolan Ryan, a friend of Paul's, served as his honorary campaign chair and appeared in ads for him, and tax activist Steve Forbes also supported Paul's candidacy.cite web|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/2001-10-01/feature7.php|title=Dr. No|author=Gwynne, Sam C.|date=2001-10-01|accessdate=2007-10-23|work=Texas Monthly] Paul won the low-turnout primary runoff with the assistance of a largely out-of-state free-market network of support, such as his Foundation for Rational Economics and Education and other market-oriented organizations. Though he continued to maintain his home in Lake Jackson, Texas, he had run for the coastal 14th Congressional district rather than the 22nd district he had previously represented, due to redistricting borders. [cite web|url=http://ao.nictusa.com/ao/no/900023.html|title=Federal Election Commission Advisory Opinion Number 1990-23|accessdate=2007-05-26|last=Elliott|first=Lee Ann|date=1990-11-05|publisher=Federal Election Commission]

Paul's Democratic opponent in the fall election, trial lawyer Charles "Lefty" Morris, was heavily assisted by the AFL-CIO and ran numerous attacks. Morris cited Paul's past votes to repeal federal drug laws in favor of state legislation, and also ran numerous ads about newsletters which had contained derogatory comments published in Paul's name concerning race and other politicians. [cite news|title=CAMPAIGN '96 U.S. HOUSE: Newsletter excerpts offer ammunition to Paul's opponent: GOP hopeful quoted on race, crime|author=Bernstein, Alan|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070512114222/http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/aol-metropolitan/96/05/23/paul.html|work=Houston Chronicle|date=1996-05-22|accessdate=2007-10-05] Paul's campaign replied at the time that voters might not understand the "tongue-in-cheek, academic" quotes out of context, and rejected Morris's demand to release back issues.

Paul's large contributor base outraised Morris two-to-one, giving him nearly $2 million, the third-highest amount of individual contributions received by any House member (behind Gingrich and Bob Dornan); [cite web|url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/118086.html|title=Paul for President?: The maverick libertarian Republican talks on war, immigration, and presidential ambition|accessdate=2007-05-28|author=Doherty, Brian|date=2007-01-22|work=Reason] he was also able to paint Morris as a tool of trial lawyers and big labor. Paul went on to win the election in a close margin of 51% to 48%, the third time he had been elected to Congress as a non-incumbent.cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/magazine/22Paul-t.html?ei=5124&en=22ee37525a9fc4f5&ex=1343016000&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink&pagewanted=all|title=The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-Medicare Candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul|first=Christopher|last=Caldwell|work=New York Times Magazine|date=2007-07-22|accessdate=2007-07-21] Paul recalled later, "Here I am in the Bible belt .... but I convinced them they don't want [government] in their business."

1998

In 1998 Paul again won the Republican primary. The Democratic primary candidates included education professor Margaret Dunn; former congressional aide Roger Elliott; car dealer Tom Reed; and Bay City rice farmer and cattle rancher Loy Sneary. Reed, who claimed to be the only Texas-born candidate in the race, had served in local economic development projects and had been appointed to the White House Conference on Small Business; he was endorsed by the AFL-CIO. Sneary, a self-described "conservative Democrat" and also a former Matagorda County judge, prevailed in the primary; by December 31 1997, including self-loans, Sneary had outraised Reed by $175,000 to $33,000.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made the general election its "No. 1 challenge race in the state of Texas".cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/23/cq/texas.html|title=House Races Steal Show In Nation's First Primary: Who Has Paul?|author=Birtel, Marc|work=Congressional Quarterly|date=1998-02-21|accessdate=2008-05-15] The Texas Farm Bureau endorsed Sneary and ranked Paul's agricultural record poorly. Sneary also said that Paul's anti-government stance left constituents inadequately represented. Paul ran ads warning voters to be "leery of Sneary".cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/08/AR2006070800966_2.html|title=Congressman Paul's Legislative Strategy? He'd Rather Say Not|last=Copeland|first=Libby|date=2006-07-09|work=Washington Post|accessdate=2007-10-23] Paul accused Sneary of voting to raise his pay by 5%, increasing his judge's travel budget by 400% in one year, and creating more government bureaucracy by starting a new government agency to handle a license plate fee he enacted. Sneary considered Paul's attack to consist of "half-truths and no truths", claims supported by local TV station KVUE; his aides replied that he had actually voted to raise all county employees' pay by 5% in a "cost of living" increase. Paul countered that he had never voted to raise Congressional pay. [cite web|url=http://www.chron.com/cgi-bin/auth/story.mpl/content/chronicle/metropolitan/98/08/15/notebook.2-0.html|title=Foes lock horns over Paul's radio ads|accessdate=2007-05-26|date=1998-08-14|work=Campaign Notebook|publisher=Houston Chronicle]

Paul won the election 55% to 44%, outraising his opponent by a large margin ($2.1 million to $0.7 million).

2000

In 2000, Sneary ran against Paul again, with Paul winning 60% to 40% and raising $2.4 million to Sneary's $1.1 million. As in the prior two elections, the national Democratic Party and major unions had continued targeting Paul with heavy spending.

2002

Paul was re-elected to Congress in 2002. Two Democrats without political experience ran for the primary, but not much support from the Democratic Party was visible. Local Democratic consultant Ed Martin criticized Paul's frequent budget dissents as "180 degrees opposite from" his campaign promises to protect Social Security. Paul's free-market foundation and network of support continued its fundraising strength.cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,45231,00.html|title=Rep. Ron Paul, Friend of the Taxpayer|author=Vlahos, Kelley Beaucar|date=2002-02-11|accessdate=2008-05-16]

2004

Paul was re-elected to Congress in 2004 (running unopposed).

2006

In 2006, Paul was opposed in the primary race by Cynthia Sinatra, the ex-wife of Frank Sinatra Jr., son of the legendary singer. [ [http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=d96491ceb90c68b4 The Facts ] ] Paul won the primary handily with nearly 80%, though his opponent campaigned on Paul's lack of support for President George W. Bush. [cite news|url=http://www.321gold.com/editorials/taylor/taylor031706.html|title=Congressman Ron Paul Talks About Gold, Oil & the Economy|author=Taylor, Jay|work=J. Taylor's Gold & Technology Stocks|date=2006-03-17|accessdate=2008-02-14] Paul then won the general election by 20%, [cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006//pages/results/states/TX/index.html|title=State Races: Texas|accessdate=2007-03-04|work=Elections 2006|publisher=Cable News Network] entering his tenth term and outraising Shane Sklar $1.2 million to $0.6 million.

Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (US)
candidate = Ron Paul
votes = 94,375
percentage = 60.2
change = -39.8Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Shane Sklar
votes = 62,421
percentage = 39.8
change = +39.8Election box majority
votes = 31,954
percentage = 20.4
change = Election box turnout
votes = 156,796
percentage =
change = Election box hold with party link
winner = Republican Party (US)
swing =

2008

In March 2007, Paul announced his candidacy for U.S. president. According to Texas law, Paul can run for president without having to relinquish his Congressional seat. [cite web|url=http://www.thevictoriaadvocate.com/330/story/72352.html|title=Shane Sklar won't run against Paul in 2008|accessdate=2007-06-14|work=Elections 2008|work=Victoria Advocate] In the 2008 primary, he was opposed by Chris Peden, who informally announced his challenge on May 22 2007. Peden, a certified public accountant, was elected to the Friendswood city council in 2005 [cite web|url=http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/stories/MYSA052207.EN.PAUL.94898f61.html|title=Paul gets primary challenger|accessdate=2007-07-11|work=San Antonio Express-News] with 67%, and was chosen as mayor pro tem.

The "Victoria Advocate" and "Galveston County Daily News" both endorsed Peden. [cite news|url=http://www.blisty.cz/2008/3/28/art39818.html|title=Ron Paul obhájil své místo ve Sněmovně reprezentantů|language=Czech] Paul had a larger national source of funding, while Peden raised more money from the district, the majority of which came from within his own family or loans to himself. [cite web|url=http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00435776/319077/sa/ALL|publisher=Federal Election Commission|title=Schedule A Itemized Receipts: All Listed Line Numbers 2008] Paul won 70% to 30%. [cite web|url=http://enr.sos.state.tx.us/enr/mar04_135_race4.htm|title=2008 Republican Party Primary Election: Results] [cite news|title=GOP primary only race in House District 14|url=http://texascitysun.com/story.lasso?ewcd=35a797ecc9cabe45&-session=TheDailyNews:45936D61054cc2AB08iJk2B336D8|work=Galveston County Daily News|date=2008-02-17]

Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (US)
candidate = Ron Paul
votes = 37,220
percentage = 70.2
change = n/aElection box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (US)
candidate = Chris Peden
votes = 15,813
percentage = 29.8
change = n/aElection box majority
votes = 21,407
percentage = 40.4
change = n/aElection box turnout
votes = 53,033
percentage =
change = Paul is expected almost certain to be elected because the Democrats are not running a candidate.

References