Texas: Ninteenth District

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R)

Randy Neugebauer (R) Elected June 2003, 2d full term up
Born:	12-24-1949, Lubbock
Home:	Lubbock
Education:	TX Tech. U., B.B.A. 1972
Religion:	Baptist
Marital Status:	married (Dana)
Elected  Office:	Lubbock City Cncl., 1992-98; Mayor Pro Tempore, Lubbock, 1994-96.
Professional Career:	Mgr., Sentry Property Mngt., 1972-75; Instructor, South Plains College, 1975-78; V.P., First National Bank, 1975-82; Pres., Prestige Homes, 1983-87; Pres., Lubbock Land Co., 1987-present.
DC Office	429 CHOB, 20515 202-225-4005 Fax: 202-225-9615 Website: randy.house.gov
State Offices	Abilene:325-675-9779; Big Spring:432-264-0722; Lubbock:806-763-1611;
Additional Info
Committees · Ratings · Key Votes · Election Results District Demographics
More On Texas
At A Glance · State Profile District Map Redistricting ·Almanac Home
Recent News Coverage
Search the CongressDaily, Hotline, House Race Hotline, and National Journal archives using the form above:

Until water was discovered in the giant Ogallala Aquifer that lies under the area around Lubbock, this was Indian country, then a land of Army forts and cattle ranches. When the water was tapped, well into the 20th century, what had been grazing land suddenly became cotton fields, with green crops grown in circles where sprinklers reached, separated by parched land. Lubbock became a regional center, the home of Texas Tech, and grew rapidly at mid-century: Lubbock County’s population increased from 51,000 in 1940 to 101,000 in 1950 and 156,000 in 1960—lots of people in sparsely settled west Texas. Since then the regional economy has grown more slowly, as the Aquifer seemed to be going dry; in 2000, Lubbock County’s population reached 242,000, and populations of neighboring, much smaller, counties declined. Cotton growers struggled with international competitors and trade rulings, plus pressure to reduce agricultural subsidies, which growers contend are a small fraction of the overall economic return. Wind power has become a source of energy, with dozens of towers between Abilene and Sweetwater. Lubbock has made an outsized contribution to American popular culture. This small city and nearby counties have produced a slew of fine musicians: Buddy Holly, Tanya Tucker, Jimmy Dean, Waylon Jennings, Mac Davis, Joe Ely, Roy Orbison, Don Williams. A discordant note came from Lubbock’s Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, who told a London audience in March 2003 that she was ashamed that George W. Bush came from Texas; the Dixie Chicks quickly disappeared from the playlists of some country stations. Later, they criticized their hometown in the recording, “Lubbock or Leave It.” As a local congressman once noted in his website, people around here are “fiercely independent as Texans, steeped in patriotism when it comes to Flag and Country.”

Lubbock is separated from the great metropolises of Texas by hundreds of miles of mostly, but not entirely, empty land. Nearly 200 miles southeast of Lubbock, over gully-ridden territory, are Abilene and the surrounding cattle country, with ranches specializing in Angora goats and sheep and exotic animals like ostriches, emus and aoudad sheep; there also are cotton fields and pecan trees and mesquite, and many oil wells. Archer City, the boyhood and current home of novelist Larry McMurtry, was chronicled in The Last Picture Show and Texasville. At Dyess Air Force Base near Abilene some of the nation’s B-1 bombers are stationed. The communities here maintain their traditions and keep close to the land: Sweetwater has an annual Rattlesnake Roundup, while Olney in Young County stages a One-Armed Dove Hunt for amputees.

The 19th Congressional District of Texas connects these two wide-open regions. The population in Lubbock and its surrounding area is about twice as large as the Abilene area. The district, a product of the 2003 redistricting, was designed to safeguard the just-elected Republican incumbent from Lubbock against the likely challenge from a savvy and veteran Democrat from Abilene, and to allow the creation to the south of a new solidly Republican district dominated by Midland and Odessa, which had been in the old 19th District. Both goals were achieved. As recently as 1978, these parts of West Texas were Democratic enough that in an open seat election they rejected the candidacy of an attractive young Midland oilman named George W. Bush in favor of Lubbock Democrat Kent Hance. Today they are heavily Republican: Bush received 77% of the votes for president in this district in 2004.

The congressman from the 19th District is Randy Neugebauer (pronounced NAW-ga-bauer), a Republican who won the seat in a June 2003 special election. Neugebauer graduated from Texas Tech, became a banker and then ran his own land-development company. From 1992 to 1998, he was a Lubbock city councilman. The contest was prompted by the unexpected resignation, announced a week after the November 2002 election, of Larry Combest, who had chaired the House Agriculture Committee. In the primary, the four leading contenders in the all-party 17-candidate contest to succeed Combest were all Republican. They were Mike Conaway, a Midland accountant, plus three from Lubbock: Neugebauer, state representative Carl Isett, and former Mayor David Langston. Neugebauer was the biggest spender and in his advertising emphasized homeland defense. He focused on his business connections to oil and farming, and was helped because Isett—the only active office-holder—was tied down by legislative business in Austin. Langston, who previously won election as a Democrat, pitched himself as a Bush-like “compassionate conservative.” Neugebauer finished first, with 821 more votes than Conaway. In third place, Isett trailed Conaway by 1,255 votes; Langston finished farther back. In Lubbock County, which cast nearly half of the total vote, Neugebauer won 30% to 28% for Isett and 21% for Langston. Conaway swept the Midland and Odessa areas. The runoff featured few differences on the issues. Not surprisingly, both supported Combest’s farm bill and Bush’s national security policy. Regional patterns held firm, as the Lubbock native again prevailed in the showdown with a Midland contender. In the combined vote from Midland and Odessa areas, Conaway won 85% of the vote; in Lubbock County, which cast 47% of the vote, Neugebauer led 71%-29%. Overall, Neugebauer won 51%-49%.

In the House, Neugebauer got a seat on the Agriculture Committee and later was appointed to Financial Services. He has been a reliable conservative. The House passed his amendment to add $3 billion for drought assistance to farmers, which was offset by a reduction in payments from a farm conservation program; it was part of the disaster aid bill, chiefly for hurricane victims, that Bush signed in October 2004. But he barely had a chance to get settled before the Texas legislature redistricted in October 2003. The new lines placed the home of Democrat Charlie Stenholm, congressman from the old 17th District since 1978, in the new 13th District; but that district was almost entirely unfamiliar territory for him, and heavily Republican to boot, and he decided to run in the 19th. Stenholm was arguably the last conservative Democrat from Texas in the House. He and Phil Gramm were leaders of the “Boll Weevils,” backing the 1981 Reagan budget and tax cuts; he was one of five Democrats who voted to impeach Bill Clinton. But he stood with Democrats on tax issues. As the years went by, Republican leaders decided that Stenholm talked a good game but rarely delivered, though as ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee he did work closely with Combest in fashioning the 2002 farm bill. At home, his reelection margins had grown closer as the Republican tilt in his district grew even more pronounced. Most of the advantages—the district’s partisan tilt, the fact that Neugebauer had represented 58% of its residents and Stenholm only 31%—favored the Republican. Both candidates promised to protect farm subsidies. Neugebauer called for cuts in other spending programs, such as food stamps; Stenholm was open to tax increases. Stenholm emphasized his social conservatism, his dedication to West Texas constituent services, and his independence as a Democrat; he criticized Neugebauer ads suggesting that Stenholm was not pro-life on abortion, and sought to link Neugebauer with Tom DeLay. Although Neugebauer ran as a loyal White House ally, his support for drug reimportation from Canada showed his willingness to go his own way; he sought to link Stenholm with John Kerry. The Texas Farm Bureau, which earlier honored Stenholm as “one of the giants of Texas agriculture,” endorsed Neugebauer. He won 58%-40%, with 22 of the 27 counties. In Lubbock, Stenholm trailed 65%-33%. In his base of Abilene, which cast half as many votes as Lubbock, Stenholm led 50%-48%.

On Financial Services, Neugebauer said that post-Katrina reconstruction of public housing in New Orleans would be “the second worst disaster” in the city’s history. In 2006, he won 68%-30% against an accounting professor at Texas Tech. About the only thing that could jeopardize his tenure is a radically different redistricting plan. In 2007, he was positioned to play a role on the farm bill as ranking member of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture. During farm bill debate, he introduced amendments, knocked down by Democrats, to prevent indexing food stamps to inflation and to bar congressmen from directing Environmental Quality Incentives Program funds to specific industries. He defended farm subsidies to his district after the Environmental Working Group listed it as the nation's fourth-highest in crop subsidy program spending.

Committees

• Agriculture (12th of 21 R)
  Horticulture & Organic Agriculture (RMM); Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition & Forestry; General Farm Commodities & Risk Management.
• Financial Services (23d of 33 R)
  Housing & Community Opportunity; Financial Institutions & Consumer Credit.
• Science & Technology (11th of 20 R)
  Research & Science Education; Energy & Environment.

Presidential Vote

District Demographics (More Info)

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +25
• Area size: 25,356 square miles
• Urban Population: 74.0%
• Rural Population: 26.0%
• Population 2000: 651,619
• Population 2005 (est): 649,385
• Median Income: $31,575
• Poverty Status: 17.5%
• Military Veterans: 11.6%
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 63.6% White; 5.3% Black; 0.8% Asian; 0.4% Native Am.; 0.0% Hawaiian; 0.9% Two+ races; 0.1% Other; 29.0% Hispanic Origin;
• Ancestry: 9.9% USA%; 7.7% German%; 6.7% English%;
• Occupation: Blue collar 23.8%; White collar 56.8%; Gray collar 19.4%;