The Texas Six Pack was a group of six freshmen Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 congressmen from Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 who were elected during the 1984 Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 landslide

United States presidential election, 1984

The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...

 victory over Walter Mondale

Walter Mondale

Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...

. With their victories the Texas congressional delegation shifted from a 22-5 Democratic advantage to only 17-10. Several of the six new congressmen would go on to long and powerful careers in Washington. Beau Boulter

Beau Boulter

Eldon Beau Boulter is a Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist who was a Republican U.S. representative from Texas between 1985 and 1989....

, Mac Sweeney

Mac Sweeney

David McCann "Mac" Sweeney is a former Republican Member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas.Born in Wharton, Texas, Sweeney earned his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. In his early political years Sweeney served on the staffs of Republican Senator John G....

 and Dick Armey

Dick Armey

Richard Keith "Dick" Armey is a former U.S. Representative from Texas's and House Majority Leader . He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades. Armey was...

 upset three incumbent Democratic congressmen. Larry Combest

Larry Combest

Larry Ed Combest is a retired Texas Republican U.S. politician who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2003.-Early life:...

 won an open seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Kent Hance

Kent Hance

Kent "The Hancellor" Ronald Hance is a lobbyist and lawyer who was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from West Texas, having served from 1979 to 1985...

, while Joe Barton

Joe Barton

Joseph Linus "Joe" Barton is a Republican politician, representing in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1985, and a member of the Tea Party Caucus...

 and Tom DeLay

Tom DeLay

Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...

 won seats vacated by retiring Republicans. For Sweeney, Combest, and Armey it was the first time their districts had ever elected a Republican to congress.