Texas Six Pack

The Texas Six Pack was a group of six freshmen Republican congressmen from Texas who were elected during the 1984 Ronald Reagan landslide victory over Walter Mondale. With their victories the Texas congressional delegation shifted from a 21-6 Democratic advantage to only 17-10.

Several of the six new congressmen would go on to long and powerful careers in Washington. Beau Boulter, Mac Sweeney and Dick Armey upset three incumbent Democratic congressmen. Larry Combest won an open seat being vacated by retiring Democrat, later Republican Kent Hance, while Joe Barton and Tom DeLay won seats vacated by retiring Republicans Phil Gramm and Ron Paul, respectively. For Sweeney, Combest, and Armey it was the first time their districts had ever elected a Republican to congress. Boulter relinquished his seat after two terms to wage an unsuccessful race against U.S. Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen, who ran the same year for Vice President of the United States.

1984 U.S. House Texas Congressional District 6 Election.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Joe Barton	179,493	56.7
	Democratic	Dan Kubiak	100,799	43.4

1984 U.S. House Texas Congressional District 13 Election.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Beau Boulter	107,600	53
	Democratic	Jack Hightower (Inc)	95,367	47

1984 U.S. House Texas Congressional District 14 Election.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mac Sweeney	104,181	51.3
	Democratic	Bill Patman (Inc)	98,885	48.7

1984 U.S. House Texas Congressional District 19 Election.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry Combest	102,805	58.1
	Democratic	Don Richards	74,044	41.9

1984 U.S. House Texas Congressional District 22 Election.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tom DeLay	125,225	65.3
	Democratic	Doug Williams	66,495	34.7

1984 U.S. House Texas Congressional District 26 Election.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dick Armey	126,641	51.3
	Democratic	Tom Vandergriff (Inc)	120,641	48.7

References

• The Almanac of American Politics 1986
• Texas Monthly Dec 8, 1984