Pete Sessions

Peter Anderson Sessions (born March 22, 1955) is an American politician from Texas who is the U.S. representative for Texas's 17th congressional district.

A member of the Republican Party, he has served in the U.S. House of Representatives for thirteen terms.

According to the Associated Press, "The race also was one of the nastiest, with Frost unearthing a decades-old streaking incident by Sessions in his college days and questioning his commitment to security with an ad featuring the World Trade Center towers in flames. In response, he criticized Frost for booking Peter Yarrow of the 1960s group Peter, Paul and Mary for a fundraiser. Yarrow had faced an indecency with a child charge years earlier."

He grew up in Waco and in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. In 1978, he graduated from Southwestern University, where he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

He worked for Southwestern Bell for 16 years and rose to the rank of district manager for marketing in Dallas.

The Boy Scouts of America recognized Sessions as a "Distinguished Eagle Scout."

He holds a position on the Circle Ten Council of the BSA.

His two sons are also active in scouting.

In 1991, Sessions finished sixth in a special election for the House of Representatives.

In 1993, he left his job with Southwestern Bell to again run for Congress, against 5th District incumbent Democratic Representative John Bryant.

He toured the district with a livestock trailer full of horse manure, claiming that the Clinton Administration's health care plan stank more than the manure.

He lost by 2,400 votes.

He subsequently became vice president for public policy at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), a Dallas-based conservative public policy research institute.

In 1996, when Bryant ran for a Senate seat, Sessions was elected to succeed him in the 5th District, defeating Democratic nominee John Pouland with 47% of the vote.

He was reelected in 1998, defeating schoolteacher Victor Morales with 56% of the vote.

In 2000, he defeated Regina Montoya Coggins with 54% of the vote.

When redistricting after the 2000 census made the 5th slightly more Democratic, he moved to the newly created 32nd District, in which he ran in the 2002 election and defeated Pauline Dixon with 68% of the vote.

In 2004, Sessions defeated 13-term Democratic incumbent Martin Frost, who had moved to the 32nd after redistricting in 2003 eliminated Frost's former district.

Sessions won 54–44% in what was considered the most expensive U.S. House race in the nation.

In 2010, Sessions faced Dallas businessman and attorney Grier Raggio and Libertarian John Jay Myers.

The election was initially considered one of the top dark-horse battles in the country, but Sessions was reelected.

In 2012, he faced Democratic candidate Katherine Savers McGovern and independent candidate Seth Hollis.

Sessions was endorsed by the Dallas Morning News and was reelected.

He chaired the House Rules Committee from 2013 to 2019 and is a former chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

In the 2014 Republican primary, Sessions defeated conservative Katrina Pierson, an African American aligned with the Tea Party movement, polling 28,954 votes (63.6%) to her 16,560 (36.4%).

Pierson, originally allied with U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, later joined Donald Trump's presidential campaign staff.

In 2016, Sessions polled 49,632 votes (61.4%) to gain renomination in the Republican primary, which had a much greater turnout than in 2014.

The runner-up, Russ K. Ramsland of Dallas, received 19,105 votes (23.6%).

Paul M. Brown of Richardson received 9,488 (11.7%), and Cherie Myint Roughneen received 2,601 (3.2%).

While the 17th is about 100 mi from his former district, it is based in his boyhood home in Waco.

Sessions sold his home in Dallas and bought a home in Waco soon after announcing his candidacy.

Sessions's bid received a chilly reception from some Republicans in the district, including the retiring five-term incumbent, Bill Flores.

Despite this, Sessions led the field in a crowded 12-way Republican primary–the real contest in this heavily Republican district.

He was defeated for reelection by Democrat Colin Allred in 2018.

Sessions lost his bid for reelection in 2018 to Democrat Colin Allred, a lawyer and former professional (NFL) football player.

On October 3, 2019, Sessions announced that he was running for Congress again in 2020.

In October 2019, Sessions announced his candidacy for the 2020 election in Texas's 17th congressional district.

He was elected to the 17th district congressional seat on November 3, 2020.

He is the son of former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) William S. Sessions.

Sessions was born in Waco, Texas, the son of Alice June (née Lewis) and William Steele Sessions, an Air Force officer who went on to serve as a U.S. Attorney, federal judge and director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.