PHOTO: Rich Roberts today hosted a private luncheon for U.S. Congressman Louie Gohmert (R) of Texas.

A mid-decade redistricting made the 1st District significantly more Republican than its predecessor, notably by moving Gohmert’s home in Tyler from the 4th to the 1st. Gohmert defeated Democratic incumbent 1st District Congressman Max Sandlin with 61 percent of the vote to Sandlin’s 39 percent, becoming the first Republican since Reconstruction to represent northeast Texas. In the Republican primary, Gohmert defeated State Representative Wayne Christian of Center, who thereafter returned to the state legislature but was unseated in the 2012 Republican primary.

Gohmert has been elected four times with virtually no opposition. In 2006, Gohmert won his second term by defeating Democrat Roger L. Owen, a swimming pool builder from Hallsville. He faced no major party opposition in 2008 or 2010.

On November 6, 2012, Gohmert was elected to his fifth term with 182,621 votes (71.7 percent) to the Democrat Shirley J. McKellar’s 67,758 (26.6 percent). The Libertarian Clark Patterson polled the remaining 1.6 percent of the ballots. (Wikipedia)

The luncheon event was attended by the Mayor and other officials and about 30 friends of Dr. Roberts.

During the luncheon, the Congressman spoke about Israel, ObamaCare, foreign policy and other topics before taking questions from the guests. [TLS]