Texas's 25th congressional district

In 2003, after Republicans gained control of the Texas House of Representatives for the first time since Reconstruction, the new Republican majority (with outside assistance from then-U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay from the neighboring 22nd district, where he had succeeded Ron Paul in 1984) radically altered the state's congressional map. The 25th district of Chris Bell's was dismantled with Bell's southwest Houston residence moved into the neighboring 7th district of two-term Republican John Culberson and much of the 25th redrawn into the new 9th district, which had been unmoored from its historical location in Galveston and had extended as far east as Beaumont at the time. While Bell ultimately sought reelection the following year in the new 9th where he lost to fellow Democrat Al Green in the Democratic primary, the new 25th now stretched from McAllen, in the Rio Grande Valley at the U.S.-Mexico border, all the way to a heavily Democratic southeastern portion of Austin and was informally referred to by political pundits and the Texas press as "the fajita strip". The new district would be won by incumbent Democrat Lloyd Doggett, who had previously represented the neighboring 10th district since being elected in 1994. In June 2006, the US Supreme Court ruled that the nearby 23rd District represented by Republican Henry Bonilla, violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965, since the 2003 redistricting replaced the Latino-centered city of Laredo with more Anglo-centered communities in Northwestern San Antonio and the western Texas Hill Country, making Hispanics a minority in that district, and that the 25th District was not a sufficient replacement for a Hispanic-centered district, since it wasn't compact enough and the 2 Hispanic communities ( McAllen and Austin ), were over 300 miles apart. This ruling lead to both seats, as well as the 28th, 15th, and 21st Congressional Districts being redrawn. The 2006 redrawing has the 25th district now stretching from most of central and southeast Austin to several heavily Republican rural counties southeast of Austin (see below); Doggett nonetheless won reelection in 2006 and 2008 with little difficulty. However, in 2010 Doggett faced his toughest reelection, winning 53 percent of the vote against Republican physician and future state senator Donna Campbell.

In July 2011, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law a redistricting plan ("C185"), approved by the Texas legislature in June, which gave the 25th district a completely different geography for the 2012 elections, including part of Travis County, and stretching as far north as Johnson County, south of Fort Worth. The redistricting split Travis County into five districts, four of which were heavily Republican. As a result, the only realistic place for Lloyd Doggett to run in was the new 35th district (which by weight of population is more of a San Antonio district than an Austin district); Doggett nonetheless won reelection in the new 35th. Former Texas Secretary of State and auto dealer Roger Williams, who had previously been a candidate for the U.S. Senate as early as 2010 while Kay Bailey Hutchison was still serving (she would eventually retire the following year and would be succeeded in 2012 by Ted Cruz), ultimately won a crowded Republican primary and would go on to win comfortable margins or better in a district where Democrats were only competitive in the western Travis County portion of the district (which includes some of the most Republican areas in the county including much of the area surrounding Lake Travis; Mitt Romney won 60 percent of the vote in the new district in 2012. His closest reelection came in the 2018 election, where Williams won 53.5 percent of the vote against Democratic challenger Julie Oliver and would go on to win less than 56 percent against Oliver in a rematch, as the district gave 55 percent of the vote to Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 with Trump losing the Travis County portion by large margins. For a number of years, there was a consolidated lawsuit against the redistricting;[6][7] in March 2017, a panel of federal judges ruled that the new 35th district and two others were illegally drawn with discriminatory intent.[8] However, the district was allowed to stand in the Supreme Court's 2018 Abbott v. Perez ruling.

For the 2022 election, the 25th was redrawn into a district anchored in the southwest corner of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, including a southern portion of Tarrant County encompassing most of Arlington including AT&T Stadium, Globe Life Field and Six Flags Over Texas, as well as most or all of several rural counties between the Metroplex and Abilene. Donald Trump won less than 65 percent of the vote in this new district, with only the Tarrant County portion considered competitive. Roger Williams won reelection unopposed in the new 25th district, which includes Weatherford where he owns an automobile dealership.

On June 28, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the Texas legislature's 2003 redistricting plan violated the Voting Rights Act in the case of the 23rd district. The main basis for the ruling was that the old 23rd was a protected majority-Hispanic district—in other words, if the 23rd was redrawn in a way to put Hispanics in a minority, a new majority-Hispanic district had to be created. Since the 25th was not compact enough to be an acceptable replacement, the 23rd had to be struck down. The size of the 23rd required the redrawing of nearly every district from El Paso to San Antonio.

As a result, on August 4, 2006, a three-judge panel announced replacement district boundaries for 2006 election for the 23rd district, as well as for the 15th, 21st, 25th and 28th districts. On election day in November, these five districts held open primaries; if any candidate received over 50%, they were elected. Otherwise, a runoff election in December decided the seat.[12]

The redrawn 25th was more compact and restricted to Central Texas, comprising more of Travis County, most of Bastrop County, and all of Hays, Caldwell, Fayette, Gonzales, Lavaca, and Colorado Counties.

Incumbent congressman Doggett faced Republican Grant Rostig (formerly the Libertarian nominee), independent candidate Brian Parrett, and Libertarian Party Barbara Cunningham, and won re-election.

In the 2008 election Doggett faced Republican George Morovich, a structural engineer from La Grange and Libertarian Jim Stutsman, a retired Army veteran. Doggett won with 65.8% of the vote to Morovich's 30.5% and Stutsman's 3.7%. Doggett won 73.8% of the vote in his Austin-based stronghold of Travis County.

Dogget faced Republican and "Tea Party favorite" Donna Campbell, and again held his seat, though by a surprisingly small margin.[13]

The new district boundaries were more favorable to Republicans, as had been foreseen.