Texas's 17th congressional district

Texas’s 17th congressional district to the United States House of Representatives is a Congressional district that serves a strip of central Texas stretching from south of Tarrant to Grimes County, including former President George W. Bush’s ranch at Crawford, known as Prairie Chapel Ranch. The district is currently represented by Republican Bill Flores.

The district includes two large colleges, Baylor University in Waco and Texas A&M University in College Station; both universities are known for being conservative.

Counties wholly within the district

 * Brazos
 * Grimes


 * Hill
 * Hood


 * Johnson
 * Limestone


 * Madison
 * McLennan


 * Robertson
 * Somervell

Counties partially within the district

 * Burleson

Cities wholly within the district

 * Cleburne
 * Waco
 * Bryan
 * College Station

Cities partially within the district

 * Burleson

History of Texas’s 17th District
Along with MS-4, TX-17 was the most heavily Republican district in the nation represented by a Democrat, according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, which rates it R+20. This is due to the 2003 Texas redistricting, engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The district was drawn to make it Republican-dominated and unseat its then Democratic incumbent, Chet Edwards. Ultimately, this failed, and while several of his colleagues went down to defeat, Edwards held on to the seat in the 2004, 2006 and 2008 elections.

However, In the 2010 Congressional elections, the district elected Republican Bill Flores over Edwards by a margin of 61.8% to 36.6%. Flores, who took office on January 3, 2011, is the first Republican ever elected to represent this district since its creation 91 years ago.

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