Rep. Chris Bell (D) Elected 2002, 1st term
Born:	Nov. 23, 1959, Abilene
Home:	Houston
Education:	U. of TX, B.J. 1982, South TX Col. of Law, J.D. 1992
Religion:	Episcopalian
Marital Status:	married (Alison)
Elected  Office:	Houston City Cncl., 1997-01.
Professional Career:	Television and radio reporter, 1982-92; Practicing atty., 1992-02.
Additional Info
Recent Articles · Offices · Committees · Election Results District Demographics
More On Texas
At A Glance · State Profile District Map Redistricting · Almanac Home

Spreading out in all directions from its historic center at Allen's Landing on Buffalo Bayou, Houston has become one of the great metropolises of North America. A half-century ago, the steaming flatlands south of Houston running down to the Gulf of Mexico did not seem a likely site for one of the world's most advanced civilizations. But they are today. It was Houston where most of the scientific work was done that put the first man on the moon--the first word spoken on the moon was "Houston." Houston is the undisputed center of expertise in the oil business, where the greatest concentration of experts in the world is within a few miles of each other. Houston has also become one of the great medical centers of the world, with the giant Texas Medical Center looming as impressively massive as any great office skyscraper complex. And Houston became one of the great surprise growth cities of the 1990s, creating thousands of small businesses, with special growth among immigrants. All this success and sophistication are testimony to human--and Texan--creativity, and to the triumph of air conditioning. For who supposed that all these people would move here if they had to sweat through Houston's steamy five-month summer?

The 25th Congressional District includes many widely separated parts of metro Houston on the streets and freeways and waterways spreading out from the center of the city. It is astonishing that a federal court produced a district with such convoluted boundaries; the judges in this case said they were obliged to safeguard incumbents and preserve the political balance established by the partisan Democratic redistricting plan of 1991. In its eastern reaches it includes parts of industrial Baytown and Pasadena; areas with many white blue-collar workers. In the center it includes a large part of southwest Houston around Hobby Airport; this is an area where many Latinos are moving in. In the west it includes the affluent neighborhoods around the Texas Medical Center and Rice University and wealthy River Oaks. To the south of the old Astrodome it includes predominantly black neighborhoods. This is a mixed area in every way; many of its residents would be astonished to learn that they are in the same congressional district with some of the others. Politically, it is just about evenly divided, the only such district in metro Houston; in 2000 George W. Bush won 48% of the vote here.

The congressman from the 25th District is Chris Bell, a Democrat elected in 2002. He was born in Abilene and graduated from the University of Texas, where he was president of the Interfraternity Council, and from South Texas College of Law. Before law school, he worked as a television and radio reporter in Houston and in 1990 the Texas Associated Press named him the state's best radio reporter. He later served four years on the Houston City Council and ran a distant third in the Democratic primary for mayor in early 2001 after spending $1.1 million. In September 2001, when it looked like redistricting might put him in a heavily black district with Sheila Jackson Lee, 25th District Congressman Ken Bentsen decided to run for the Senate, and Bell quickly jumped into the race with the support of Mayor Lee Brown and the AFL-CIO. In the primary his toughest competitor was Councilman Carroll Robinson, a law professor at Texas Southern University, who had the backing of the Democratic Leadership Council: this was a contest between a white backed by liberals and a black backed by moderates. Bell led in the March 2002 primary 36%-27%. In the runoff Robinson attacked Bell for smoking marijuana in college more than 20 years earlier and for having temporarily lost his law license for failing to pay bar dues and some bills. Bell won the endorsements of the third and fourth-place finishers in the primary and refused Robinson's demand that he take a drug test. Bell won the April runoff 54%-46%.

Unopposed in the Republican primary was Tom Reiser, a wealthy Houston insurance executive specializing in high risk oil businesses; he had lost the 2000 primary to Phil Sudan, a lawyer who spent $3 million on his campaign. Both supported the use of force against Iraq and the Bush tax cuts, although Bell expressed doubts about making them permanent. Reiser attacked Bell for accepting a gift of flatware from a city contractor while serving on the Council, an act that resulted in a grand jury investigation. Bell criticized Reiser for claiming to have an economics minor from the College of William & Mary when the school actually had no such program. Reiser spent $4.5 million, included $1.7 million of his own money, which was far more than what Bell spent in the primary and general combined. With large margins in black precincts, Bell won 55%-43%.

If a new congressional map is passed for the 2004 election, Bell could be the odd man out in Houston; under one May 2003 proposal, Bell was left without a district and his home was placed in a heavily Republican district represented by John Culberson.

Recent News Coverage
Search the CongressDaily, Hotline, House Race Hotline, National Journal and Technology Daily archives using the form below:

DC Office
216 CHOB 20515, 202-225-7508; Fax: 202-225-2947; Web site: www.house.gov/bell

State Offices
Baytown, 281-837-8225; Houston, 713-383-8600; Pasadena, 281-991-1300.

Committees

• Financial Services (32d of 32 D).
• International Relations (23d of 23 D): International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights; Middle East & Central Asia.

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Chris Bell (D)	63,590	55%	$1,107,790
	Tom Reiser (R)	50,041	43%	$4,538,270
	Other	2,495	2%
2002 run off	Chris Bell (D)	9,572	54%
	Carroll Robinson (D)	8,056	46%
2002 primary	Chris Bell (D)	7,443	36%
	Carroll Robinson (D)	5,597	27%
	Paul Colbert (D)	4,307	21%
	Stephen King (D)	3,274	16%
2000 general	Ken Bentsen (D)	106,112	60%	$1,354,444
	Phil Sudan (R)	68,010	39%	$3,247,033
	Other	2,400	1%

2000 presidential
	Gore (D)	86,764	52%
	Bush (R)	81,359	48%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Twenty-Fifth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D + 1
• District Size: 280 square miles
• Population in 2000: 651,619; 99.5% urban; 0.5% rural
• Median Household Income: $38,048; 16.3% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 24.2% blue collar; 60.0% white collar; 15.8% gray collar; 8.6% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 36.6% White, 22.7% Black, 4.8% Asian, 0.2% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.3% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 34.3% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 5.8% German, 4.9% English, 4.5% USA
• Click here for statewide demographic data.