Texas's 21st congressional district
From 2023 to 2027, starting with the2022 elections From 2027, starting with the2026 elections Interactive map of district boundaries
Representative	Chip Roy R–Austin
Distribution	78.15% urban[1] 21.85% rural
Population (2024)	846,025[2]
Median household income	$100,260[2]
Ethnicity	58.9%White 30.7%Hispanic 3.6%Two or more races 3.4%Black 2.6%Asian 0.8% other
Cook PVI	R+11[3]

Texas's 21st congressional district of theUnited States House of Representatives serves the area north ofSan Antonio and a significant portion ofAustin in the state ofTexas. Towns entirely or partially in this district includeBoerne,Fredericksburg,Ingram,Kerrville,Kyle,New Braunfels, andSan Marcos. The current Representative from the 21st district isChip Roy.

The district was created in 1934, and has always been anchored in theTexas Hill Country and northern San Antonio. However, until the early 1980s, it stretched for some distance into West Texas, as far asBig Bend National Park. It began shifting away from itsYellow Dog Democrat roots in the late 1960s, though it took until 1978 for a Republican to win it. The GOP has held it ever since, in large part due to the increased growth of the San Antonio suburbs. The district was pushed into the Austin area in the 1980 census; until the 2000s it included fast-growingRound Rock.

For the118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties and communities:^[6]

BanderaCounty(3)

All 3 communities

BexarCounty(8)

Alamo Heights,Castle Hills,Hill Country Village,Hollywood Park,Olmos Park (part; also35th),San Antonio (part; also20th,23rd,28th,35th; shared with Comal andMedina counties),Terrell Hills,Windcrest

BlancoCounty(3)

All 3 communities

ComalCounty(8)

Bulverde,Canyon Lake,Fair Oaks Ranch (part; also23rd; shared with Bexar and Kendall counties),Garden Ridge,New Braunfels (part; also15th,28th, and35th; shared withGuadalupe County),San Antonio (part; also20th,23rd,28th,35th; shared with Bexar andMedina counties),Schertz (part; also28th and35th; shared with Bexar andGuadalupe counties),Spring Branch

GillespieCounty(3)

All 3 communities

HaysCounty(12)

Austin (part; also10th,35th, and37th; shared with Travis andWilliamson counties),Bear Creek,Belterra,Buda (part; also35th),Driftwood,Dripping Springs,Hays,Kyle (part; also35th),Mountain City,San Marcos (part; also27th and35th; shared withCaldwell andGuadalupe counties),Wimberley,Woodcreek

KendallCounty(3)

All 3 communities

KerrCounty(3)

All 3 communities

RealCounty(2)

Camp Wood,Leakey

TravisCounty(2)

Austin (part; also10th,35th, and37th; shared with Hays andWilliamson counties),Barton Creek

Member	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history
District established January 3, 1935
Charles L. South (Coleman)	Democratic	January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1943	74th 75th 76th 77th	Elected in 1934. Re-elected in 1936. Re-elected in 1938. Re-elected in 1940. [data missing]
O. C. Fisher (San Angelo)	Democratic	January 3, 1943 – December 31, 1974	78th 79th 80th 81st 82nd 83rd 84th 85th 86th 87th 88th 89th 90th 91st 92nd 93rd	Elected in 1942. Re-elected in 1944. Re-elected in 1946. Re-elected in 1948. Re-elected in 1950. Re-elected in 1952. Re-elected in 1954. Re-elected in 1956. Re-elected in 1958. Re-elected in 1960. Re-elected in 1962. Re-elected in 1964. Re-elected in 1966. Re-elected in 1968. Re-elected in 1970. Re-elected in 1972. Retired.
Vacant		December 31, 1974 – January 3, 1975	93rd
Bob Krueger (New Braunfels)	Democratic	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1979	94th 95th	Elected in 1974. Re-elected in 1976. Retired torun for U.S. Senator.
Tom Loeffler (Hunt)	Republican	January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1987	96th 97th 98th 99th	Elected in 1978. Re-elected in 1980. Re-elected in 1982. Re-elected in 1984. [data missing]
Lamar Smith (San Antonio)	Republican	January 3, 1987 – January 3, 2019	100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th 112th 113th 114th 115th	Elected in 1986. Re-elected in 1988. Re-elected in 1990. Re-elected in 1992. Re-elected in 1994. Re-elected in 1996. Re-elected in 1998. Re-elected in 2000. Re-elected in 2002. Re-elected in 2004. Re-elected in 2006. Re-elected in 2008. Re-elected in 2010. Re-elected in 2012. Re-elected in 2014. Re-elected in 2016. Retired.
Chip Roy (Austin)	Republican	January 3, 2019 – present	116th 117th 118th 119th	Elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020. Re-elected in 2022. Re-elected in 2024. Retiring to run forAttorney General.

In the case ofLeague of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U. S. 399 (2006), theU.S. Supreme Court ruled that the configuration of Texas' 15th, 21st, 23rd, 25th and 28th congressional districts as drawn by theTexas Legislature violated theNational Voting Rights Act of 1965. Replacement district boundaries for the 2006 election were subsequently issued for the five districts by the localfederal district court, and on election day in November, these five districts had open primaries, with candidates being elected for receiving over 50 percent of the vote.Runoff elections were held in December to decide elections in which no candidate gained an absolute majority in November.^[7]

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 theFederal 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).^[8]

Lamar Smith did not run for reelection in 2018.^[9]

On the Republican side, 18 candidates competed in the March 6 primary, in which no one received a majority. The first- and second-place finishers were, respectively, attorney Chip Roy, who served as chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and senior advisor to Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R),^[10] and Matt McCall, owner of a business providing human tissue for American military hospitals. Roy and McCall advanced to a May 22 runoff, which Roy won with 52.7% of the vote.^[11]

On the Democratic side, four candidates ran to replace Smith: Joseph Kopser, entrepreneur and Army veteran; Derrick Crowe, activist; Elliott McFadden, executive director of Austin B-cycle; and Mary Street Wilson, pastor.^[12] No one received a majority in the March 6 primary,^[13] so the top two finishers, Wilson and Kopser, advanced to a runoff on May 22. Kopser flipped the primary result in the runoff against Wilson, winning the nomination with 58% of the vote.^[14]

The incumbent,Chip Roy, was unopposed for the Republican nomination. Former state Senator Wendy Davis won the Democratic primary runoff.^[15] Tom Wakely was nominated by the Green Party caucus. The state Supreme Court allowed his inclusion after Wendy Davis tried unsuccessfully to have him removed from the ballot.^[16] Perennial candidate Arthur DiBianca was the Libertarian nominee;^[17] a last-minute lawsuit by Republicans to block DiBianca and 43 other Libertarian Party candidates from the ballot failed.^[18][19]

The incumbent, Chip Roy (R, Dripping Springs), an attorney, ran unopposed and was nominated in the March 5, 2024 Republican primary.^[21] Dr. Kristin Hook (D, San Antonio), a biologist formerly employed as a biologist by US Government Accountability Office, ran unopposed and was nominated in the March 5, 2024 Democratic primary.^[22] Bob King (L, New Braunfels), a retired energy finance executive and nonprofit leader, ran unopposed and was nominated at the Libertarian district convention on March 23, 2024.^[23]

• List of United States congressional districts
• Texas's congressional delegations

• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989).The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982).The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–presentArchived April 23, 2010, at theWayback Machine

30°03′28″N98°58′31″W / 30.05778°N 98.97528°W /30.05778; -98.97528

• Congressional districts of Texas

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use American English from November 2025
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Use mdy dates from May 2021
• All articles with lists with data missing
• Data missing from February 2020
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension