Texas's 6th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives is in an area that includes Hill, Ellis, Navarro, Anderson, and Cherokee Counties to the south and southeast of the Dallas/Fort Worth area plus the southeast corner of Tarrant County, a sliver of Dallas County, and northern Freestone County. As of the 2010 census, the 6th district represented 698,498 people. The district is currently represented by Republican Jake Ellzey.
The district was represented by Joe Barton from 1985 until 2019. Other notable representatives include Olin "Tiger" Teague and Phil Gramm. The latter served as a Democrat, then notably resigned and ran as a Republican to win the ensuing special election.
A special election to fill the seat was held on May 1, 2021, with the winner being determined in a July 27 runoff after no candidate received a majority of the vote. In the runoff, Republican state representative Jake Ellzey defeated fellow Republican Susan Wright (the widow of Ron Wright and the endorsee of then-former President Donald Trump), winning the seat.
For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties and communities:
Anderson County (4)
Cherokee County (11)
Dallas County (3)
Ellis County (20)
Freestone County (4)
Hill County (14)
Johnson County (8)
Navarro County (19)
Tarrant County (3)
This special election took place after Wright died from health complications related to COVID-19 on February 7, 2021.
Early in the district's history, it stretched from the southern Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs all the way to Houston's northern suburbs. As Houston and DFW grew, the district shrank gradually northward, reaching its current boundaries today.
The 2012 redistricting process removed all of Trinity, Houston, Leon, Freestone, and Limestone counties from the district, while making the district more compact in southeastern Tarrant County.